ANITA – The weather was iffy, and the action got chippy at times.

But there is nothing surer than the stroke of a bat in baseball.

CAM sophomore Zach Kauffman’s bat accounted for a pair of doubles and four RBIs as the Cougars snapped a four-game skid by holding off Riverside’s determined upset bid, 7-4, in Friday’s Iowa Class 1A District 15 baseball quarterfinal.

Battling from behind after the Bulldogs built a 2-0 second inning lead, Kauffman stroked the hard hits in the third and fourth innings, when all the Cougar runs were scored. Kauffman’s first to left center sent Tyler Ticknor and Cohen McCann home to tie the game at 2-2. After leadoff batter Carson McKee scored on a Bulldog error to take the lead, Kauffman reached home on a fielder’s choice grounder by Braxton Dennis.

Riverside got back on the board in the top of the fourth when Cole Jeppesen scored on a balk after having reached third on Dane Martens’ bloop single. 

But CAM got three more runs in the fourth, and again it was Kauffman doing the damage with his one-out two-bagger, scoring Ticknor and McKee. Collin Bower eventually added another run, stealing second and third before going home on a wild throw.

Riverside scored the game’s final run in the top of the sixth when Cody Hofeldt reached on a single, and pinch runner Connor Nilan eventually scored on Jeppesen’s RBI single. Bower, relieving McKee on the mound for the Bulldogs, got a strikeout and a flyout to left to end the threat.

After CAM went order in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs made the most of their final opportunity, with Peyton Amdor and Hunter Shady reaching with one out on a walk and hit batter, respectively. However, Bower got a strikeout and a coaxed a grounder to short to get the save and the Cougars the win.

Bulldog starter Victor Alfonso kept the Bulldogs in the game the first two-plus innings, as his team struck first in the top of the second. The Bulldogs loaded the bases, then Kasper Rieken was hit by a pitch to send a runner home, and Martens reached on a fielder’s choice to third to RBI-in Caleb Meyer. That was the first and only time the Bulldogs led this game.

Besides Kauffman’s great game, in which he went 2-for-4, Ticknor went 2-for-3 with two doubles, while Bower had four stolen bases and went 1-for-2. McKee got the win, combining with Bower to give up six hits and strike out nine.

Jeppesen and Martens each had two hits for the Bulldogs. Alfonso took the loss, going 3-1/3 innings with four earned runs off five hits, and striking out three.

The game’s starting time was moved up two hours due to forecast storms, and the action was nearly stopped once when lighting was spotted to the far south, but it was 18 miles away and action continued.

CAM (15-9) moves on to the Class 1A district semifinal, Tuesday night at Anita. They’ll play AHSTW, a 6-0 winner over Audubon.