Black and Gold World Series Preview
The annual Iowa Baseball Black & Gold World Series is set to take place at Duane Banks Field next week and the rosters are officially set for the two sides. The series is a best of three format with the games taking place from October 18th to 20th at 2:00pm. All games are open to the public.
I’ll breakdown the two rosters and provide a bit of insight into who may have the inside track to winning the world series, while also taking a look at Wednesday’s four inning scrimmage.
-Wednesday Scrimmage-
On the mound, gold team held black scoreless with four pitchers over four innings. Jared Simpson allowed an Anthony Mangano double and issued a walk, but got out of the inning unharmed.
Ty Langenberg continued his impressive fall campaign, striking out two over one inning, while one baserunner reached via error. Dylan Nedved also had a batter reach via error, but had a strikeout and a pickoff to end the inning.
Keaton Anthony had the most impressive day, as he struck out the side in his inning of work with his fastball reaching in the 91-93 mph range, which is his highest of the fall. Anthony also added a home run in his only plate appearance to take home performer of the day.
For black team, Cam Baumann surrendered a leadoff single to Michael Seegers, but retired three straight after to end the frame. Will Christophersen walked one, but struck out two to throw a scoreless inning.
Luke Llewellyn allowed the Keaton Anthony home run, as well as a Ben Tallman double and Sam Petersen triple in his inning of work. Llewellyn has allowed four hits and walked three over his last 1.1 innings pitched and will be looking for a strong finish to the fall in the Black & Gold World Series.
-Black & Gold World Series Roster Breakdown-
*Projected* Gold Starting Lineup - Coach David Pearson
1B- Peyton Williams
2B- Ben Wilmes
SS- Michael Seegers
3B- Andy Nelson
OF- Brayden Frazier/Kyle Huckstorf/Keaton Anthony
C- Brett McCleary
DH- Will Mulflur
Bench- OF DJ Heck/C Cade Moss/OF Connor Woods
Potential Starting Pitchers- Adam Mazur/Ty Langenberg/Cam Baumann/Duncan Davitt
Other Pitchers- Chas Wheatley/Luke Lllewellyn/Casey Day/Jacob Henderson
Out- Coy Sarsfield (leg)/Connor Schultz (has not participated yet)
When Keaton Anthony finds his way to the mound expect DJ Heck to get time in the outfield, while Cade Moss will likely be behind the plate at some point.
Coach Pearson built his team with plenty of starting pitching options, as well as late inning bullpen guys in Luke Llewellyn and Casey Day.
*Projected* Black Starting Lineup – Coach Marty Sutherland
1B- Weston Fulk
2B- Izaya Fullard
SS- Brendan Sher
3B- Sam Hojnar
OF- Sam Petersen/Connor McCaffery/Anthony Mangano
C- Ben Tallman
DH- Tyler Snep
Bench- C Gehrig Christensen/OF Sam Link/3B Mitch Wood
Potential Starting Pitchers- Marcus Morgan/Jared Simpson/Dylan Nedved
Other Pitchers- Alec Nigut/Tyson James/Ben DeTaeye/Ben Beutel/Will Christophersen
Out- Jackson Payne/Brody Brecht (football)
This lineup offers a more potential movement than the gold team with the fact that Fullard can play first base, while Sher and Hojnar could slide over to give Mitch Wood a spot at 3B.
For starting pitchers, Marcus Morgan will be one, but outside of that Jared Simpson is the only one with experience in that department and he worked out of the bullpen last year for Missouri. It will be interesting to see how Coach Sutherland manages his pitchers.
-Final Analysis-
The Iowa Baseball team is a talented squad so both teams have the potential to win the series, but I would have to put my money on the gold squad with the power bats of Williams and McCleary, as well as starting arms Mazur, Langenberg and Baumann.