Comets open new era with DH split against Chickasaws

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — It was History meeting the Sign of the Times.

When Charles City sophomore Jaxon Daniels pulled a pitch over the right-field fence for a 3-run home run in the first inning of the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against New Hampton, it was the first homer hit at the new Charles City Sports Complex baseball field.

It also helped put the Comets up 4-0.

Usually such feats are feted with a “Welcome Back Home” ceremony at home plate with the rest of the team waiting in mass congregation. But such celebratory scrums are discouraged during this reopening in the face of the ongoing pandemic, thus Daniels was only greeted by teammate Hunter Sullivan — the next man up for the Comets — after he completed his circuit.

The Comets rallied for 5 more runs in the fourth inning — the big blow being Elliott Sinnwell’s 2-run double — before ending the game in the fifth when Tait Arndt’s bases-loaded walk forced in the 11th run in a shortened 11-1 final.

Arndt earned the win on the mound after striking out nine and yielding three hits and no earned runs in five innings.

Senior Atticus Parrott drove in 3 runs for the Comets.

The following game, the Chickasaws rallied for 3 runs in the first inning on their way to taking a 6-0 lead.

The Comets responded with a 3-run rally in the fourth inning and added another run in the fifth to pull within 2.

But New Hampton scored a run in the seventh before holding on to win, 7-5, while salvaging a split.
Austin Hemann and Conner Gorman each had 2 RBIs in the second game for the Chickasaws.

Tino Tamayo had a 2-run double, Arndt had two hits, and leadoff hitter Sinnwell had two hits — four for the night — for Charles City, which will travel to Oelwein on Friday for a doubleheader against the Huskies.