-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Fort Dodge dodgers celebrate Cal Pederson's home run against Waterloo East on Thursday

Jayce Skow has been waiting and working patiently in the dark to finally have his moment under the lights at McNeil Field.

Skow made his varsity pitching debut on Thursday against Waterloo East, working four effective innings as part of the Fort Dodge baseball squad’s doubleheader sweep.

Scores were 13-3 and 11-1.

Skow was on his way to potentially pitching for the Dodgers as a freshman last year when he was sidelined by arm trouble. The injury prognosis was bleak, as the right-hander had suffered a UCL tear that required surgery last April.

Skow was an all-district linebacker this past fall for the playoff-qualifying FDSH football team, despite having to play with his arm in a bulky brace. He then qualified for state wrestling in the winter.

The goal all along, though, was to get back on the mound this baseball season.

Skow has been building up his strength and endurance with the JV1 squad, as the sophomore went 3-0 with a 1.56 earned run average in three starts. Varsity head coach Blake Utley summoned Skow to face the Trojans in the nightcap yesterday, and he allowed only one unearned run with three strikeouts after throwing 77 pitches.

“It was great having Jayce back out there,” Utley said. “He’s been putting a ton of time and effort in behind the scenes to get to this point. He did an outstanding job, all things considered. I know he wanted to be a little more in the zone (41 pitches for strikes), and I know he was frustrated about being taken out, but we have to be smart about this and think long term.

“It’s not easy to return from that kind of injury in basically a one-year window. You have to give him a lot of credit for doing what it takes physically and mentally and working with the right people to get him ready again.”

The Dodgers (12-7 overall, 5-3 in the Iowa Alliance Conference) were patient at the plate on Thursday, walking 16 times and taking 11 hit by pitches in dispatching the Trojans (1-12, 0-6). No. 9 hitter Cal Pederson — like Skow, just a sophomore — was 3-for-4 with his first varsity home run in the opener, scoring twice and driving in a pair. Senior Royce Pederson went 2-for-3 with three RBI.

“It was fun seeing Cal hit that home run,” Utley said. “He had a productive night at the plate. We had a lot of different guys contribute, and we were better with runners in scoring position than we had been recently.”

Sophomore Tanner Peterson added two hits, including a double, and junior Jaxson Dencklau drove in a pair.

Fort Dodge was down 3-0 three batters into the contest, but reeled off 13 consecutive runs to end it by the bottom of the fifth. The Dodgers plated seven in the final frame alone.

Sophomore Kolton Schiltz scored three times, and eighth-grader Hayden Porter stole three bases.

Pederson shook off an inauspicious start and tossed a one hitter with three strikeouts.

East pitchers hit nine Dodgers in the second game, with Schiltz drawing three. He was plunked five times in the twinbill, and has now been beaned on 11 different occasions already this season.

Dencklau was 3-for-3, and Cal Pederson scored three times. Senior Rylan Kingrey was 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBI from his lead-off spot in the order.

Royce Pederson drove in two and walked twice as well. Dencklau and Tru McBride both stole two bases.

Freshman Reggie Pederson relieved Skow and struck out three in two innings of work.

“We still had a few too many mental mistakes, which we have to keep cleaning up,” Utley said. “You can’t give teams free passes and extra outs. They’ll make you pay. We took advantage of those on our side (last night) offensively, though, so it goes both ways.

“I still think our ceiling is high, but our margin for error is small. That’s how high school baseball is…if you throw strikes and take care of the routine stuff, you’ll be in good shape.”

Fort Dodge faces Sioux City North at Rogers Park for a single varsity contest on Friday at 4 p.m.

FORT DODGE 13, WATERLOO EAST 3 (5)

Waterloo East 300 00 — 3 1 2

Fort Dodge 240 07 — 13 10 0

WP–Royce Pederson (2-1; 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 3 K). 2B–FD: Tanner Peterson, Tru McBride. HR–FD: Cal Pederson. SB–FD: Hayden Porter 3, Davis Underberg 2, Tanner Peterson, Kolton Schiltz, Cal Pederson.

FORT DODGE 11, WATERLOO EAST 1 (6)

Waterloo East 001 000 — 1 3 2

Fort Dodge 034 022 — 11 8 2

WP–Jayce Skow (1-0; 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 3 K). 2B–FD: Rylan Kingrey. SB–FD: Jaxson Dencklau 2, Tru McBride 2, Tanner Peterson, Cal Pederson, Davis Underberg.