Prep baseball: Grinnell holds off late Trojan rally in season opener
· Yahoo Sports
FAIRFIELD — Fairfield players knew they would be part of opening night for the 2026 Iowa High School baseball season.
The Trojans just didn't realize they'd be starting so early.
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With rain in the forecast for Monday night, Fairfield and Grinnell moved up the start of their season-opening contest in Jefferson County by two hours playing the varsity contest ahead of the scheduled junior varsity game. The Trojans took a little longer adjusting to the early start to the season, falling short despite scoring three runs in the final two innings as the Tigers held on late for a 5-3 road win as Trenton Huls forced Chase Countryman to ground out to second after a pair of two-out hits brought the tying run to the plate.
"We just didn't come into this game with enough energy," Fairfield senior Aiden Westercamp said. "We got our energy going in the last inning and I think that helped out a lot to get the tying run. There are a few minor things we need to work on, but I feel like there are a lot of good things we can take away from battling a really good team."
Even while trying to get adjusted to the earlier start time, the Trojans came within a hit of taking the early lead on Grinnell stranding three base runners in the first two innings. Huls, before recording the save on the mound, drove in the first run of the season for the Tigers (1-0) with a two-out RBI infield single to drive in Brooks Vosburg ahead of a wild pitch that scored Josh Ringler, giving Grinnell a 2-0 third-inning lead.
"We've got to have the energy from the very first inning. We had some new guys in new positions and had to adjust on the fly," Fairfield head baseball coach Josh Allison said. "We just needed that one little thing to turn things our way. We gave up a couple of free bases that came back to cost a couple of runs. When you look up at the final score, those free bases might have been the difference."
Dax Flanagan shut out Fairfield over 4 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out four batters leaving with Grinnell leading 3-0 in the fifth after a solo home run in the top of the frame by Ringler. Vosburg doubled in Levi Jack in the sixth, giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead, before state track qualifier Jacob Crew drove in Fairfield's first run of the season with a two-out RBI single to left that plated Jaxon Coleman cutting Grinnell's lead to 4-1.
"I spent a lot of time thinking about how this would go," Crew said. "I got here about an hour before first pitch after track practice ended. I got a few swings in the batting cage. I just went up to the plate, stayed calm and pulled off some hits."
Huls had to retire the potential tying run in each of the final two innings, forcing Henry Konczal to ground out in the sixth stranding a pair of Fairfield baserunners before a two-out RBI hit by Jack gave the Tigers a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Westercamp doubled in Dain Burkhart with two outs in the final frame before scoring on an RBI single by Coleman, cutting Grinnell's four-run lead in half before Countryman's groundout to second ended Fairfield's final threat.
"I'm excited about the season," Allison said. "We got a few first-game jitters out of our system. We should have some good leadership from a good number of seniors. I don't think anything is going to overwhelm them. We're going to battle no matter what the situation is. I think that's going to lead us to more good things than bad this year."
Fairfield (0-1) hosts Oskaloosa on Tuesday night before hitting the road for the first time this season on Wednesday making a trip to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.