Comets win what may be their last game at Louis Koenigsfeld Field

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Denver slugger Brock Farley got the Barry Bonds treatment by the Charles City pitchers during Thursday’s non-conference doubleheader.

The Comets intentially walked Farley four times during the night — once when the bases were already loaded and another time when he led off an inning.

But when Charles City intentially walked Farley in the top of the seventh of the second game, putting the tying run on base while nursing a 2-run lead, it proved to be the right move as it helped the Comets hang for a 6-4 victory in possibly the program’s final game at Louis Koenigsfeld Field at Sportsmen’s Park.

Down 4-3 going into the bottom of the fifth, the Comets rallied for 3 runs to take the lead for good. The big blow in the inning was Wyatt Stevenson’s 2-out double that chased home the tying and go-ahead runs.
Cole Reams pitched two innings of shutout ball in relief to help earn the win for starter Carter Johanningmeier.

Colton Slinger, Jace Cajthaml and Elliott Sinwell each had multi-hit games in the second game.

The era-closing victory capped a DH split for the Comets, whose overall record stands at 15-16 with a remaining regulation season game against Clinton on the road on Monday.

In the first game, the Cyclones won 15-5 in six innings after busting loose for the mother of all after-two-out rallies in the first inning where they scored 10 runs.

Farley had a double and a home run in that inning alone and eventually drove home 4 runs for the game.

The Comets responded with 3 runs in the latter half of the inning, and scored another in the second while threatening to climb back into it.

Cajthaml, who was the third pitcher used in the first inning for the Comets, stayed in the game and held the Cyclones in check for the next three innings. The only run scored off him was when he intentionally walke Farley with the bases loaded.

But even with Slinger, Sinwell and Tait Arndt having multihit games; and Kaden Barry and JJ Ritter touching Cyclone pitching for extra-basehits, the Comets couldn’t catch Denver, which rallied for 4 runs in the sixth for what would be the mercy-rule margin.

Bryce Phelps and Connor Smith each had two hits for the Cyclones, who left Charles City with a 17-16 record.

Game One
DENVER 15, CHARLES CITY 5
DENVER AB R H BI CC AB R H BI
Bryce Phelps 5 1 2 3 Colton Slinger 4 2 2 0
Connor Smith 4 2 2 1 JJ Ritter 4 0 1 0
Brock Farley 3 2 2 4 Cole Reams 2 0 0 1
Zach Miller 3 2 1 0 Kaden Barry 1 0 1 0
Cale Neuendorf 2 1 0 1 Jace Cajthaml 2 0 0 1
Layne Fober 4 1 1 3 Tait Arndt 4 0 2 0
Mitchil Thuesen 2 1 1 0 Elliott Sinwell 3 1 2 1
Braden Powers 0 0 0 0 Wyatt Stevenson 2 0 0 0
Colton Reiter 4 1 0 1 Atticus Parrott 2 0 0 2
Nathan Eggena 4 3 2 1 Ian Collins 3 0 1 0
*Trevan Reiter 0 1 0 0 *Colton Crooks 0 1 0 0
*Ryan Zuspan 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 31 15 11 14 TOTALS 27 5 9 5
DENVER 1000 104 0 — 15
CHARLES CITY 310 010 x — 5
LOB–DENVER 11, CHARLES CITY 9. ERR–Connor Smith, Jace Cajthaml (3). 2B–Brock Farley, Bryce Phelps, Kaden Barry, Colton Slinger, JJ Ritter. HR–Brock Farley. HBP–Brock Farley, Cale Neuendorf (2), Atticus Parrott. SACF–Jace Cajthaml. SB–Layne Fober (2), Brock Farley, Nathan Eggena (2), Bryce Phelps.
DENVER IP H R ER BB SO HR
Cale Neuendorf 4.67 8 5 3 3 3 0
Layne Fober 1.33 1 0 0 0 0 0
CHARLES CITY
Tino Tamayo 0.67 2 6 6 4 0 0
JJ Ritter 0.00 4 4 4 0 0 1
Jace Cajthaml 3.33 4 1 1 2 3 0
Wyatt Stevenson 2.00 1 4 0 4 2 0
PB–Mitchell DeVries (2). WP–Cale Neuendorf, Jace
Cajthaml, Wyatt Stevenson (2). SO–Zach Miller, Layne Fober, Nathan Eggena, Colton Reiter, Bryce Phelps, JJ Ritter, Wyatt Stevenson (2). BB–Zach Miller (2), Mitchil Thuesen (2), Layne Fober, Brock Farley, Connor Smith, Braden Powers, Colton Reiter, Cale Neuendorf, Jace Cajthaml, Wyatt Stevenson, Cole Reams.
Game Two
CHARLES CITY 6, DENVER 4