The AGWSR baseball team will look to continue a season-long win streak when it begins the postseason against Colo-Nesco Saturday. It’ll be a neutral-site game at West Fork, with coverage airing on 99 The Wave at 4:40 p.m.
The Cougars (7-18) have won three straight, including Monday’s 14-12 win over Iowa Falls-Alden, where they tied for a season-high in runs scored while holding off a comeback. Head Coach Justin Kerns says the offense is heating up at the right time.
“Couldn’t happen at a better time,” Kerns says. “That’s what we kept telling the boys, you know, it’s a great time to start a streak, going into district play. We’ve been hitting the ball a lot better and finding gaps, not hitting it right to people. I think against Iowa Falls-Alden, we had a lot of hits that were just over the infielders’ head, which, you know, we’re perfectly fine with playing small ball. Runs will pile on that way. Teams have done it to us this year. Finally, I think the boys are getting the mentality that, ‘Hey, I don’t have to hit a home run every time. If I do, that’s great, but I don’t have to, I just need to advance runners on the bases.'”
Kerns says the batting lineup is beginning to work well, with powerful hitters such as Kaden Abbas, Remington Kerns, Landon Benning and Bo Starr.
“We finally found the right line up. We got Kaden leading off, Remington in the second spot, move him around the bases, you know, he’s, he’s really good at ground ball contact. Landon Benning, he’s going to put the ball in play hard every time he swings a bat. And also Bo Starr, I mean, two great hits up the middle after being gone for a month, it looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. So on down the line, we’re starting to see the ball better.”
Colo-Nesco (7-14) has lost five of its last six, including AGWSR’s 8-3 eight-inning win at a tournament on Saturday, June 29. The offense bats just .193 as a team and the pitching staff has a 5.24 ERA.
The game will start at 5:00 p.m. The winner will advance to Tuesday’s district semifinal against either West Fork or GMG.
Justin Kerns interview:
