IOWA FALLS – Say hello to the ace.

Sophomore right-hander Cameron Moen might not have started the season as the leader of the Webster City pitching staff, but 11 games into the season it’s clear he’s got the gig now.

The proof is in the pudding.

Moen’s consistently sizzling season continued Monday evening, as he twirled his fourth complete game in as many starts and helped the Lynx end a seven-game skid by keeping the Iowa Falls-Alden bats mostly silent in a 3-1 victory.

Moen threw 98 pitches, 62 of which were strikes, and allowed just five hits and two walks against seven strikeouts. He only made one mistake – a grooved fastball that Cadets’ No. 7 hitter Coltan Handeland drove out of the yard over the center field fence in the fourth inning – but recovered nicely by sitting down 11 of the final 14 batters he faced.

“Throwing strikes is what we’ve been stressing for all of our pitchers and (Moen) has been by far the best at that,” WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said. “He’s giving us a chance every time he goes out there.”

Now 3-1 on the mound, Moen lowered his ERA to 1.25 and upped his strikeouts total to 30 in 28 innings of work.

He may have saved his best for last, too. With his defense making its only two errors of the game in the bottom of the seventh, IF-A (4-6, 1-3 NCC) had the tying run aboard and the potential winning run at the plate with two outs. But Moen was able to fan Kyle Arens to end the threat, his third strikeout of the inning.

“When they got a guy to second I was getting a little nervous because I didn’t want to blow this game,” Moen said. “But if somebody messes up, we’ve got each others’ backs.”

WCHS (3-8, 2-3 NCC) played brilliantly behind Moen throughout the majority of the contest and helped him out of several jams.

A walk and hit batter put IF-A in business in the first inning, but shortstop Romel Martinez and second baseman Noah McKinney worked the 6-4-3 double-play perfectly on a hot shot off the bat of Ross Norem to end the threat.

The Cadets loaded the bases with nobody out in the second, but again the defense picked up the slack. Right fielder Dylan Steen disposed of Jackson French on a fly ball and then whipped the ball to the plate where catcher Jordan Tanner tagged out Alex Umana, who tagged up and tried to score from third.

“What impressed me the most is that it wasn’t that we were just playing good defense, it’s that we were picking each other up,” Fisher said.

Handeland’s bomb ended a scoreless contest with one out in the fourth inning. Cadets’ hurler Kolton Peterson was humming along as well, allowing just an excuse-me infield single to Martinez over the opening five innings.

Ty Schnathorst took it upon himself to bring some energy to the WCHS dugout in the sixth, as he caught the Cadets’ infield napping and reached base with a lead-off bunt single. An attempted pick-off by Peterson moments later wound up bouncing into right field and allowed Schnathorst to truck all the way to third.

“I just tried to pick people up getting on base and getting a run,” Schnathorst said. “It got everyone going and made everyone want to it.”

Two batters later, clean-up stick Corey Wagner turned on a Peterson fastball and laced it into left-center for a RBI double to knot the game at 1. Wagner came around to score just a few pitches later when Steen was able to loft a base hit into left, just out of the reach of a diving Jackson French.

Schnathorst provided WCHS with an insurance run in the seventh courtesy of a shot into the gap in left-center that scored Jordan Tanner all the way from first. Tanner roped a base hit up the middle with one out.

“We have Cam on the mound and he’s our ace, but it just helps him getting that extra run,” Schnathorst said.

Schnathorst finished with two of the Lynx six hits and probably should have had three. He send a bomb down the left-field line in the third inning, but French was able to make an over-the-shoulder grab just as he reached the warning track.

“He’s been our best hitter lately, and he’s always looking to do something to spark our club,” Fisher said of Schnathorst. “He’s that high energy guy for us.”

Peterson finished with eight strikeouts in a complete-game loss.

WCHS was back on the diamond at top-ranked (Class 2A) Clear Lake last night. The Lynx will return home this evening to face Clarion-Goldfield-Dows at 7:30 p.m.