Lone Tree looks for consistency as postseason looms

By Douglas Miles
Posted 6/28/22

Monday night served as an early scouting report for the Lone Tree baseball team.

Tasked with opening district play this Saturday at Pekin, the Lions faced off against those same Panthers on Monday …

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Lone Tree looks for consistency as postseason looms

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Monday night served as an early scouting report for the Lone Tree baseball team.

Tasked with opening district play this Saturday at Pekin, the Lions faced off against those same Panthers on Monday night.

“It gives us another shot to kind of look and see what they do really well,” Lone Tree Coach Mike Close said after losses to Central Lee and Mediapolis last week. “Maybe places for us to work on or work away from. For us from a pitching standpoint, maybe we get some matchups that we like really well. Deciding who our starters are going to be. We don’t have alll that stuff figured out yet, so that is kind of the thing that we are going to be working on the next weeek, as well. Just kind of working on some of that stuff and just trying to put the best guys out on the field, the best team, and hopefully we are just playing well at the right time.”

Monday night’s 4-2 loss to Pekin was the fourth in a row for Lone Tree (6-12, 5-8 Southeast Iowa Super Conference), which has dropped seven of its last eight contests. The Lions have lost both of its games against Pekin this season. Lone Tree was also upended at home, 13-1, on June 6. 

“The thing that we have talked about is just trying to be consistent,” Close said. “If you look back at the last couple of games that we have played, it is big innings that have really bit us. We have played well most of the game. We played Central Lee the other night and we had them with a two-run lead in the sixth inning and couldn’t hold it. So things like that are what we are trying too make improveents on and just trying to get better every day.”

The home finale for Lone Tree will be Tuesday against Wapello. The Lions then close the regular season Wednesday at Duane Banks Field on the campus of the University of Iowa against West Liberty.

“Hopefully we’ll be playing our best ball by the last game so we can go into Pekin strong,” Lone Tree senior Cade Shield said.

Shield entered Monday ranked second to junior Mathew Hemsted in both batting average (.304) and base hits (17). On the mound, Shield leads the Lone Tree pitching staff with a 2.92 earned run average in 10 appearances, including four starts. Despite the losses, the pitching staff is where Close has seen the most improvement in recent games, though it is a group that has seen their pitch counts elevated due to some ill-timed miscues.

“I’d like to see us be a little more efficient,” Close said. “We are throwing a lot of pitches. Unfortunately for us, our errors are happening with runners in scoring position. Or errors with two outs. So it is doing a lot more damage to us than no one on base and you boot a ground ball. So just trying to limit the damage. We talked about that a lot. Making the plays that we can make, the routine plays, and then being able to hit with guys on base and being able to hit with two outs.”

With more than half its roster comprised of seniors, the Lions are not lacking for motivation and are determined to show they are a better team than their record shows.

“We are a tight group of guys and we want to go far,” Shield said. “We have been playing since little league.”