The Fort Dodge baseball team has won a lot of games this week in different fashion.
At Ed McNeil Field on Friday against Des Moines Hoover, they did it again.
The Dodgers (11-3 overall) won the opener, 4-3, in walk-off fashion. They then slugged their way past the 1-9 Huskies by a 15-5 final in a six-inning nighcap to complete the sweep.
The sweep capped a busy week for the Dodgers, who won their fifth straight and capped a seven-day span that saw them win eight of nine games.
"It's been a long week," said FDSH coach Matt Elsbecker. "We have a lot of guys that are spent mentally and physically, but they had to gut out a couple wins, which we did.
"Overall, I'm pleased. We went 8-1 this week if you count the two wins last Saturday."
Fact Box
Fort Dodge 4, Hoover 3
Hoover 000 120 0 - 3 10 0
Fort Dodge 002 100 1 - 4 7
Connor Cunningham and Ben Mitchell. Keegan Gormally, Kole Kampen (5) and Devon Harms. WP- Cunningham 2, Keegan Gormally. PB- Mitchell. 2B- H: Cody Pifer, Mitchell, Max Lindstrom. HR: H: Matt Pudans. SB- H: Matt Pearson; FD: Will Gormally.HBP- H: Bak'r Brown (by Kampen); FD: Luke Vandermaten (by Cunningham), Tommy Halligan (by Cunningham), Harms 2 (by Cunnigham). Sac- FD: Tyler Vaughn.
Fort Dodge 15, Hoover 5 (6 innings)
Hoover 100 202 - 5 3 5
Fort Dodge 221 604 - 15 14 4
Aaron Sims, Ricky Cochran (3) and Matt Pudans. Tommy Halligan, Austin Halligan (5) and Parker Van Zyl, Tommy Halligan (5). WP- Sims, Tommy Halligan. 2B- FD: Will Gormally, Luke Vandermaten, Isaac Lehman. 3B- FD: Tommy Halligan. HR- FD: Sam Edwards, Tommy Halligan. SB- FD: Edwards. HBP- H: Matt Pearson (by Tommy Halligan); FD: Tyler Vaughn (by Sims). SacF- H: Cody Pifer. FD: Nathan Matthes 2, Isaac Lehman, Will Gormally.
The Dodgers went deep into their rotation Friday night, getting solid starting pitching from Keegan Gormally and Tommy Halligan and good relief efforts from Kole Kampen - just an eighth grader - and freshman Austin Halligan.
"You can tell it's been a long week with the young pitchers we had on the mound," said Elbecker. "Gormally pitched well and Kampen came in and got guys out, which he needed to do.
"That was Tommy's first varsity pitching experience and he competed well. I knew he would. Austin did a good job finishing (in the nightcap)."
Hoover plated two runs in the opener to tie the game at 3-all after five frames, but after a 1-2-3 sixth, the Dodgers strung together three hits to win it in the bottom of the seventh.
Sam Edwards singled to start it and pinch-runner Andrew Stover took second on a bunt single by Tommy Halligan, who was actually just trying to sacrifice the runner to second.
Senior Isaac Lehman won it with a sharp single, his first hit of the night after two pop-outs.
Fort Dodge got on the board first with two runs in the third. Tommy Halligan lifted a sacrifice fly to center and Will Gormally scored on a passed ball.
Hoover's Matt Pudans got the visitors on the board in the fourth with a solo home run to left and the Huskies tied it in the top of the fifth, getting back-to-back doubles from Ben Mitchell and Max Lindstrom and an RBI single from Aaron Sims.
The Dodgers had taken a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Austin Halligan.
Keegan Gormally pitched the first 4 2/3 innings. Kampen, who got the win, worked out of jams in both the sixth and seventh, leaving runners at second on both frames.
Austin Halligan had two hits for the Dodgers.
Fort Dodge bolted to a 5-1 advantage after three innings of the nightcap, then blew things open in the fourth, scoring six times. Edwards cleared the bases with a one-out grand slam, then Tommy Halligan followed with a solo shot.
Nathan Matthes added a sacrifice fly in the frame to give the Dodgers an 11-3 edge. Matthes drove in a pair of runs with two sacrifice flies.
Fort Dodge ended it with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Two Hoover errors allowed two runs to score before Will Gormally had a sacrifice fly and Luke Vandermaten ended the game with a single to right.
Tommy Halligan went four innings on the hill for the Dodgers before giving way to his brother, Austin for the final two frames.
Vandermaten was 3-for-4 in the nightcap, scoring twice. Tommy Halligan added a triple to his home run while Edwards had two hits. Fort Dodge finished with 14 hits.
The Dodgers get a well-deserved break this weekend before jumping back into CIML Iowa Conference play Monday at home against Waukee. The Dodgers finish the week with doubleheaders at Marshalltown Thursday and Urbandale Friday.