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Saydel southpaw has Lynx number again

WEBSTER CITY – Devin Porter probably wishes he could pitch against Webster City at least once a week.

The Lynx would be happy if they never watched Porter toe the rubber again. Saydel’s sophomore southpaw has not only dominated WCHS, but he’s in the batters’ heads, too.

With a solid fastball and a slow, biting curveball, Porter befuddled WCHS for seven innings Tuesday night at Lynx Field, as he helped guide the Eagles to a 3-0 non-conference victory.

Porter allowed just two hits – a second-inning single up the middle by Collin Oswald and a seventh-inning double down the left-field line by Cal Zahn – but other than that he cruised.

And to think, it wasn’t as good a performance as the last time he went toe-to-toe with the Lynx.

Porter twirled a 6-inning no-hitter against WCHS on June 14, 2014, in a game the Eagles won 10-0 in Des Moines. In two career outings against the Lynx, he’s tossed 13 innings of shutout ball, allowed just two hits, walked eight and struck out 19.

“Give credit to their pitcher because he’s a good pitcher, but I think he got in our heads a little bit,” WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said.

Porter fanned nine in Tuesday’s outing, five coming on called third strikes. Too many times the Lynx flailed away unsuccessfully at early fastballs and then watched curves bend to their belts with two strikes.

“We want the guys to be aggressive and we’re not a team that’s going to go up there and take a ton of pitches,” Fisher said. “We had some guys that were missing their pitches early.”

Still winless, WCHS (0-8) had just six base runners all night, and only two reached scoring position.

The lack of offense spoiled what was otherwise a gem of a performance from senior pitcher Daniel Halko, who didn’t start but came on in relief of Max Hackbarth with no outs in the top of the first inning.

Hackbarth walked the bases loaded, but Halko did well to surrender just one run. He, too, located his fastball well and flummoxed the Eagles with his bender.

Halko yielded just two hits as well – a fifth-inning infield single by Craig Garrison and a seventh-inning double down the line in left by TJ Stephenson. The difference was Saydel (8-4) – winners of five straight and eight of its last nine games – was able to push both guys across for insurance runs.

Dylan Coffin drove in both runs for Saydel on a sacrifice fly to right field and a suicide squeeze bunt.

Aggressive on the bases, the Eagles pushed runners into scoring position with nine stolen bases.

Halko walked just two and fanned eight while throwing 97 pitches, including 62 strikes. Hackbarth took the loss.

“We were hoping to get through maybe a couple of innings, but (Halko) gave us a ton of innings and really picked us up big time,” Fisher said. “We’re still waiting to put that complete game together and we’re not a good enough team to squeak by. We have to be perfect right now.”

WCHS started with three freshmen on the infield – Hackbarth, second baseman Noah McKinney and shortstop Romel Martinez. McKinney made several solid defensive plays, highlighted by his bare-handed grab of Garrison’s bouncer up the middle in the fifth. McKinney turned and made a good throw to first, but Garrison beat it by a half-step.

“We’ve kind of got that youth movement going and (McKinney) wasn’t intimidated at all,” Fisher said. “He’s just got an absolute confidence about him.”

Center fielder Ty Schnathorst also helped Halko out by making a diving catch on a ball in the left-center gap off the bat of Rece Martin in the first inning.

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