Opening Day Weekend End in a Split for the Reivers
In a six game weekend the Reivers opened up the season against Crowder College and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
In Game 1 the Reivers started their year off with a 17-6 victory over the Crowder Roughriders accounting for 16 hits, four of them from freshman short-stop Cooper Bowman. Ross Indlecoffer and Isaiah Peterson both posted 3 RBI games to help the Reivers win in 5. Sophomore Jayden Kruse received his first victory of the season on the mound with 4 strikeouts in 4 innings of work.
Game 2, the Reivers finished the day with a sweep of Crowder winning 5-0. Freshman Jared Simpson threw well in his collegiate debut as he went 5 2/3 innings giving up 3 hits and striking out 4, while sophomore Trystan Kimmel closed it out with 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball as well.
Friday in Game 3, the Reivers took care of Northeastern Oklahoma with a score of 6-2. Jaden Rolffs record his first collegiate home run. Caleb Balgaard and Ross Indlecoffer helped lead the way with 2 RBI games as well. Marius Balandis captured the win for the Reivers recording 4 strikeouts in 3 innings, while Shea Zetterman and Derek Shoen came out of the bullpen to make their debuts on the mound.
Game 4, the Reivers were defeated by the Norsemen 6-3, with the Noresemen scoring all six of their runs in the bottom of the 6th. Ronald Sweeny and Ross Indlecoffer both had 2 hit games with Sweeny grabbing an RBI as well. On the mound Freshman Braedyn McLaughlin went 5 innings of 1 hit baseball notching 7 strikes to take home the ICCAC player of the week. Tristen Roehrich took the first loss for the Reivers.
Game 5, Iowa Western lost to Crowder with a score of 11-1. The Reivers only had two hits, with Greg Bennett getting the only Reiver RBI in the ball game. Dalton Mall took the loss in his collegiate debut.
In Game 6, the Reivers lost in extra innings to the Roughriders 9-8. Caleb Balgaard and Ronald Sweeny both collected 3 RBI's for the Reivers. Derek Shoen received the loss on the mound for the Reivers. Trystan Kimmel threw for his third time on the weekend as well getting 4 strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings of work.
Iowa Western will be back in action this weekend at home against Iowa Lakes Community College for a four game series March 2nd- 3rd.