IOWA CITY - Back-to-back home runs in the opening inning of play can deflate any baseball team pretty quickly.

Iowa City West pounced on Washington pitcher Dakota Freese for five runs in the first inning of the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night, but the Warriors never gave up.

As has been the trend for the Washington baseball team all year, the Warriors faced adversity and battled through it, displaying a good effort in their 7-5 loss at the Iowa City West field.

“We spotted them five in the first but we fought right back and got it to a 5-4 game,” said Warrior Coach Brent Henry. “We unfortunately had two runs too little.”

A powerful Iowa City West lineup got to Freese right away as Ryan Siems and Spence Bonner hit back-to-back RBI singles, starting the big first inning against the Chicago White Sox draft pick. West pitcher Jeremy Cronk then hit a two-run bomb over the left field fence, followed by another homer to left by Luke Crimmins.

“He was throwing good pitches. He got it in on their hands a little bit and they hit a couple of seeing-eye grounders and a couple of bloopers,” said Henry. “They really only tagged him for two good hits, everything else was in on the hands and they just found holes.”

West’s first inning proved to be crucial, because the Warriors took their bats out in the third inning. Dan White hit an RBI ground-rule double and A.J Puk followed with a two-run double as Washington pulled within 5-4.

Iowa City West tacked on another run in the fourth inning when Nate Ewing walked and scored on a wild pitch by Freese, putting the Trojans ahead 6-4.

Washington wouldn’t go away and answered in the fifth inning. The Warriors loaded the bases and Sam Kacena hit a grounder to short, scoring the runner from third base and making it 6-5.

In the sixth inning, the Trojans looked like they were going to blow the game open as they loaded the bases with no outs and chased Freese from the game. However, the Warriors held par to their reputation and limited West to only one run in the tough scenario as Mike Troendle came in and got his team out of the jam.

Iowa City West hurler Ryan Rumpf relieved in the seventh to close the game for the Trojans.

Washington finished the year with a 16-23 record. Henry praised the character of his team.

“Im so proud," he said. "These guys could have had a million excuses to why they could have failed.

"A coaching change the second day in the year, returning off of 11 wins last year, Dakota chasing his dream for pro ball. These guys could have made a mountain of excuses but we came to play everyday. I’m just so proud of my guys.”

Freese played for a travel team in Chicago during part of the high school season, trying to enhance his bargaining position with the White Sox after being drafted in the 34th round in June.

Iowa City West will host Iowa City High or Burlington in the substate final on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (5)
Brown, lf, 4 2 1 0, Dostal, 3b, 4 0 3 0, White, ss, 4 1 2 1, Puk, 1b, 4 1 1 2, Kacena, c, 4 0 0 1, Rhatigan, rf, 3 0 0 0, Freese, p, 3 0 0 0, Zingula, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Troendle, cf, 3 1 0 0. Totals  32 5 7 4.

IOWA CITY WEST (7)
Peller, cf, 4 1 0 0, Ewing, dh, 4 2 1 0, Rumpf, 3b, 4 0 1 0, Siems, rf, 4 1 1 1, Bonner, 1b, 4 1 1 1, Cronk, p, 4 1 2 2, Crimmins, ss, 4 1 2 1, Reiners, lf, 3 0 0 0, Franz, 2b, 3 0 0 0. Totals 34 7 8 5.

Washington        004 010 0 - 5 7 3
Iowa City West   500 101 x - 7 8 0

Freese, Troendle (6) and Kacena. Cronk, Rumpf (7) and Baker. W - Cronk. L - Freese. 2B - White, Puk. HR - Cronk, Crimmins. SB - Brown, Dostal, Peller, Siems, Bonner.