Boyden Hull Rock Valley And Unity Advance To District Baseball Semifinals

Date posted - July 7, 2012

Boyden Hull Rock Valley and Unity Christian advanced to the Class 2A District 1 semifinals with wins on Saturday night at Sioux Center.

In the early game Boyden Hull Rock Valley shut out Cherokee 6-0 to advance to the early game Tuesday night at 5pm against Sheldon who earned a first round bye. Western Christian who got the upper bracket bye will go against Unity who ousted the host team Warriors 9-2 in Saturday’s second game at Open Space Park.

Boyden Hull Rock Valley opened the scoring with a four run second inning. Tyler Dolieslager opened the inning with a double and Colin Bolkema followed with a double to drive in Dolieslager with the first run of the ball game. Bolkema singled and Kyle Jensen who drew a walk. Both crossed the plate on a 2 run double by Isaiah Richter. Richter scored on a single by Jerrod Hanson and the Nighthawks were off to a 4-0 lead.

Jensen scored his second run of the game in the 4th inning on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Richter. The final run came in the 5th when Nick Elgersma singled and later scored on an error.

Tyler Dolieslager got the win going the first 6 innings. He gave up just three hits walked 2 and struck out 8. Kyle Jensen pitched the final inning setting the side down in order with the help of a game ending double play.

With the win Boyden Hull Rock Valley improves to 12-14 on the season and will face Sheldon on Tuesday night in the lower bracket semifinal at 5pm. Cherokee ends the season at 5-22.

In the second game Saturday night Unity opened with a pair of runs in the first inning as Alex Schoonhoven opened the game with a single. Taylor Dorhout reached on an error both would come in to score. Schoonhoven was driven in by a Grant Kobza single while Dorhout came in on a sac fly to centerfield by Aaron Van Wyhe.

The Knights took the lead for good with a two run second inning as Jason Goslinga and Matt Albert both singled and came in to score on a two out single to left field by Taylor Dorhout.

Sioux Center loaded the bases in the bottom of the third and put a run on the board as Zack Regnerus stole home. Unity was able to get out of the inning without allowing another run and the lead was cut to 4-1.

Schoonhoven scored his second run of the game in the 5th as Van Wyhe came through with another sac fly to center field.

The Knights put the game away with a 4 run sixth inning to take a 9-1 lead. Sioux Center scored their final run in the bottom of the 6th inning as Kyle Heemstra led off with a single and later scored on a single by Ty Brink.

Cody Gradert went the first 5 and a third innings to pick up the win giving up both runs and just 2 hits. Freshman Alex Dorhout came on with the bases full and recorded the final two outs of the inning without allowing a run.

Kam Glade went the first 5 and two thirds for Sioux Center and took the loss.

With the win Unity improves to 10-21 on the year and advances to the upper bracket semifinal where they will meet Western Christian at 7pm on Tuesday night. Sioux Center ends the year at 11-15.

We’ll bring you the doubleheader broadcast on KIWA FM 105.3 with pregame at 4:50 for a 5pm first pitch. We’ll stream from the website as well at www.kiwaradio.com.