Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Nearly a third of the way through the Mississippi Valley Conference schedule Class 4A sixth-ranked West High was still without a conference doubleheader sweep.

The Trojans got their first MVC sweep on Monday and it came in impressive fashion.

West High pounded 19 hits and scored in every inning of a pair of 10-run, five-inning wins over Waterloo East on Monday taking the opener 12-2 and the nightcap 11-1.

The sweep improved West High to 13-5 on the season and 6-4 in MVC play while Waterloo East dropped to 3-17 and 0-9 in conference contests.

“We’ve been right in the middle of mediocrity,” West High coach Charlie Stumpff said. “All those teams we’ve played have been pretty good and the next thing you know you are 4-4 and getting behind everybody so it’s good to get a sweep.”
West High opened conference play splitting doubleheaders with 4A No. 5 Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Xavier and then splitting the season series with No. 9 City High last week.

The three-time defending 4A runner-up Trojans entered play on Monday night tied for third in the MVC’s Mississippi Division.

“It was surprising,” West High junior Tony Comellas said. “Those are good teams but we were kind of disappointed that we hadn’t gotten a sweep yet.”

Monday night was more of what West High expected in every way.

Nearly half of West High’s 19 hits on Monday went for extra bases including home runs by Comellas and Izaya Ono-Fullard.

After hitting 28 extra-base hits and six home runs in its first 16 games the Trojans had nine extra-base hits including the pair of homers on Monday.

“We hadn’t been hitting the ball well,” Senior first baseman Nate Disterhoft said. “Our first six batters weren’t get any extra base hits at all so for sure a game like this will be helpful to get back on track.”

The 3-4-5 hitters in the West High lineup did a majority of the damage as Connor McCaffery, Comellas and Jason Strunk combined for eight hits with five going for extra bases.

McCaffery accounted for half of those hits, with a pair of hits including a double and three RBI in each game.

“We are halfway through the season and our 3-4-5 guys had six extra base hits combined,” Stumpff said. “Hopefully we get going now.”

Comellas launched a two-run homer in the opener and doubled in game two, while driving in three runs in the doubleheader.

Izaya Ono-Fullard launched a solo home run in the first inning of game two and finished with three hits on Monday.

Disterhoft had three hits, scored four runs and drove in three.

“Today we just hit the ball,” Comellas said. “People were just spreading the ball gap to gap. We weren’t trying to do too much.”

West High got a pair of strong pitching performances from McCaffery and junior Jack Wilson.

McCaffery allowed two runs on four hits and struck out nine in a five-inning complete game in the opener.

Wilson posted his second straight strong start in the nightcap as he allowed one unearned run on two hits while striking out 11.

“That is two good outings for him because he threw well at (West Des Moines) Valley,” Stumpff said of Wilson. “He is low 80s with a really good curve ball so that is really good stuff.

Monday’s sweep opens a difficult stretch for West High.

The Trojans travel to No. 7 Cedar Rapids Prairie on Friday and to Mississippi Division leading Cedar Rapids Jefferson on Monday before hosting Cedar Rapids Kennedy next Wednesday.

“We focus on winning weeks and when we don’t sweep series that doesn’t contribute to winning a week,” Disterhoft said. “For sure it’s good to get on track the first two games of the week.”

Game 1

Waterloo East            100  01 –  2  4  3

West High                  211  71 – 12 9  3

W – Connor McCaffery          L – Cameron Berinobis

2B – ICW: Dane Randall, Nate Disterhoft, Connor McCaffery, Jason Strunk

HR – ICW: Tony Comellas

Game 2

Waterloo East            000  10  –   1    2   5

West High                  131  24  –  11  10  1

W – Jack Wilson         L – Braeden McNamara

2B – ICW: Tony Comellas, Connor McCaffery, Lucas Karwal

HR – ICW: Izaya Ono-Fullard