—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Mason Bockoven of Fort Dodge makes a play at first against Waukee on Monday. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

For as vastly different as Fort Dodge’s pair of two-run losses to No. 6 (Class 4A) Waukee were here Monday night, head coach Blake Utley did see one glaring similarity.

“Timely hitting,” said Utley, after the Dodgers dropped CIML Iowa Conference games 2-0 and 8-6 to the Warriors. “There at the end (of the second game) were started to make things happen, but we had too many strikeouts and too many missed chances.”

Waukee (7-0 overall, 2-0 in league) went to its bullpen in both games to seal the deal as Jackson Wentworth and Charlie Barry each earned saves.

The Dodgers (4-4, 0-2) scratched across four runs in the bottom of the seventh by taking advantage of fielding errors by the Warriors. But with a runner on third, Barry was able to record three consecutive outs.

“I saw a lot of frustration out of our guys, more than I’ve seen this year,” Utley said. “I think we’ve got too many guys trying to do too much. We showed there in the seventh what happens when you put the ball in play and force the issue. We had it happen many times and it led to runs for them.

“If you can force the defense to make plays, good things can happen.”

In the opener, Waukee plated its first run on an error and the second on a passed ball. That was enough support for Jackson Payne, as he struck out nine over five-plus innings before turning the ball over to Wentworth for the final five outs.

Drew Callon pitched six innings for the Dodgers, striking out six and allowing just five hits and one earned run. Brycen Bell had two hits in that contest, with Mason Bockoven, Dylan Zimmermann, Nick Bice and Carson Peterson each recording one.

Bockoven had a scoreless inning on the mound, striking out one in the first game.

Callon had an RBI in the nightcap, with Drake Miller, Bice, Bell and Jace Ulrich picking up a hit each at the plate.

“We’ve just got to find ways to challenge them and we will,” Utley said. “This is a great group of guys and they’ll make it happen.”

Fort Dodge heads to top-ranked Johnston for a doubleheader Tuesday night beginning at 5 p.m.

WAUKEE 2, FORT DODGE 0

Waukee 100 001 0 — 2 5 0

Fort Dodge 000 000 0 — 0 6 3

WP–Jackson Payne (1-0, 5• IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 9 K, 4 BB). LP–Drew Callon (1-1, 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 K, 1 BB). S–Jackson Wentworth (1ª IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 0 BB).

2B–W: Jalen Martinez. RBI–W: Jalen Martinez, Cole Kaufman.

WAUKEE 8, FORT DODGE 6

Waukee 030 500 0 — 8 11 4

Fort Dodge 010 001 4 — 6 4 2

WP–Cole Kaufman (2-0, 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 9 K, 3 BB). LP–Drake Miller (1-2, 4 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 3 K, 3 BB). S–Charlie Barry (1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB).

HR–W: Alex Walsh. 2B–W: Sawyer Wilson. RBI–W: Carson Schau (2), Jacob Goyke, Alex Walsh (3), Mitch Randall, Sawyer Wilson; FD: Drew Callon.