Senior Knights sweep Andover

The Newton Senior Knights American Legion baseball team claimed a pair of run-rule wins over Andover Tuesday at Klein-Scott Field.
Newton won the first game 10-2 in six innings and the second game 8-0 in five innings. Joey Buchanan tossed a one-hitter in the second game.
“The guys were throwing strikes,” Newton manager Mark George said. “Kyle Boulet did a nice job of mixing up pitches for strikes. He struggled a little early but settled in and pretty much shut them down. Joey did a nice job tonight. He spotted his fastball fairly well. He needs to work on his other pitches. That’s going to come with experience and getting more movement on his fastball. He was having trouble with his curveball tailing in a little too much. I’m trying to get him to aim differently on his curveball.
“We had pretty solid approaches at the plate. In the first game, the guys were having a little trouble getting the timing down, but once we were through the lineup, we hit pretty well. In the second game, we had some timely hits. Kevin Ronen had a couple of timely hits. Nate Briar had two solid hits — walk offs to get the run rule.”
In the first inning of the first game, a leadoff walk led to an Andover run. A pair of singles in the top of the fourth led to another Andover run. A two-out Kevin Ronen triple in the bottom of the fourth inning tied the game. Matt Moreland’s double to open the inning broke up the no hitter.
A pair of errors, a hit batter and a Kyle Boulet triple led to four Knight runs in the bottom of the fifth. Newton added four runs in the bottom of the sixth. A walk-off single for Nathan Briar with bases loaded ended the game.
Overcoming a slow start, Boulet got the win, allowing two runs on five hits with five walks and six strikeouts. Andover starter Cody Rider took the loss, allowing two earned runs on three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.
Rider struck out six of the first nine batters he faced.
Troy Klaassen had two hits for Andover.
Newton opened the second game with two runs in the bottom of the first. Newton had runners on second and third base with no outs in the bottom of the second, but two strikeouts and a ground out ended the inning without a run.
Newton came back with four runs in the third inning. Ronen hit a two-run triple. A pair of runners picked off in the fourth inning held Newton to just one run.
A pair of walks in the bottom of the fifth set up a Briar single to end the game.
Buchanan allowed one hit, one walk and three strikeouts for the win. James Hilts took the loss for Andover. Kyle Preston went two for three hitting with three runs scored and an RBI. Briar was two for two. Jeff Kent hit a double for Andover to break up the no hitter.
Newton is 14-6 and hosts McPherson at 6 p.m. today in the home finale.
“We have a week and a half of games until zone,” George said. “We have to continue to improve. We need our pitchers to go deeper in the game. We need to continue to get better with our approach to the plate. Our defense is playing well. We need to cut down on mental mistakes. We need to continue to make the routine plays and make a few more non-routine plays. I like what we’re doing with double plays. Double plays are the home runs of the defense.”
First game
Andover    ab    r    h    bi
Jones ss    2    1    1    1
Klaassen cf    3    0    2    0
S.Segraves p    2    0    0    1
Rider 2b    1    0    0    0
Cederberg c    3    0    1    0
Mikus lf    2    0    0    0
Eggers 1b    3    0    1    0
Ray 3b    2    1    0    0
Hilts rf    2    0    0    0
TOTALS    20    2    5    2
Newton    ab    r    h    bi
Moreland cf    4    1    1    1
Gilbert lf    3    2    1    1
Boulet p    2    3    1    2
Thomas ss    2    0    1    2
Ronen 1b    2    0    1    2
Briar c 4    0    1    1
Glassco 2b    3    2    1    0
Buchanan 3b    2    1    0    0
Kelly rf    1    1    0    0   
TOTALS    23    10    7    9
Andover    100    100    —2
Newton    000    244    —10
There were two outs when the game ended.
E — Thomas, Jones 2, Rider. LOB — And. 6, New. 6. 2B — Moreland. 3B — Ronen, Boulet. SB — Jones, Boulet, Glassco 2, Thomas. CS — Rider, Thomas. Sac. Bunt — Kelly.
Andover
    ip    h    r    er    bb    k
Rider, L    4.2    3    6    2    4    7
Eggers    .1    1    1    1    0    0
S.Segraves    .2    3    3    3    3    1
Newton
    ip    h    r    er    bb    k
Boulet, W    6    5    2    2    5    6
Eggers faced one batter in the sixth inning.
WP — Boulet 3, Rider. HBP — Buchanan (Rider). Time — 2:05.
Second game
Andover    ab    r    h    bi
Jones p    3    0    0    0
Klaassen cf    3    0    0    0
S.Segraves 1b    2    0    0    0
Kent ss    2    0    1    0
Cederberg c    2    0    0    0
Mikus 2b    2    0    0    0
Eggers 2b    0    0    0    0
M.Segraves lf    1    0    0    0
Ray rf    2    0    0    0
Hilts 1b    2    0    0    0
TOTALS    18    0    1    0
Newton    ab    r    h    bi
Moreland cf    3    0    0    0
Jerde c    3    1    1    0
Preston 3b    3    3    2    1
Thomas ss    1    1    0    0
Ronen dh    2    1    1    2
Bonczyk 1b    2    1    0    1
Schmidt 2b    1    0    1    0
Briar rf    2    1    2    1
Opland lf    2    0    1    1
TOTALS    19    8    8    6
Andover    000    00    —0
Newton    204    11    —8
There were no outs when the game ended.
E — Preston 2, Cederberg, Schmidt, Jones. DP — Newton. LOB — And. 5, New. 6. 2B — Preston. 3B — Ronen, Preston. HR — . SB — Jerde, Mikus, Briar 2, Opland. CS — Mikus, Jerde.
Andover
    ip    h    r    er    bb    k
Hilts, L    4    7    7    4    4    5
Jones    1    1    1    1    2    0
Newton
    ip    h    r    er    bb    k
Buchanan, W    5    1    0    0    1    3
WP — Hilts 3. HBP — Ray (Buchanan). Time — 1:39.