Raiders take Pride of Iowa title

In a week with five games, the Raiders dropped one.
The Mount Ayr baseball team opened with the 13-10 win over Wayne before hosting Southeast Warren which saw the Raiders fall to the Warhawks before coming back to win the next three.
SEW 3, Mt. Ayr 2
The Raiders opened the game with a run in the first before adding their second in the bottom of three, however, the Warhawks were able to score three in the bottom of the seventh that gave the Warhawks the win.
It was a well managed game from the Raiders, with Jace Grose going the distance, throwing 76 pitches, striking out seven, while allowing three runs on three hits, one of which was earned.
Grose walked only one batter.
The Raiders were plagued by errors, committing five throughout the night, while recording 20 putouts on 31 total chances with six assists.
The Raider bats, which have been on fire as of late, continued to do their job.
The Raiders put the ball into play, but the Warhawks defense behind the mound recorded 21 putouts on 23 total chances with nine assists and two errors.
Mount Ayr’s sticks recorded two runs on six hits and one RBI off the bat of Adler Shay.
“I feel terrible about the loss, I never want to lose,” said coach Bill Huntington. “It’s important for the young men to realize that they are 11-3, put it into perspective. They are playing great baseball.”
Coach Anthony Maldonado gave credit to the Southeast Warren defense.
“Give credit to their defense,” said coach Maldonado. “I don’t think they made one mistake, they were solid defensively. Shot memory, going forward and let it fuel you.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
SEW 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
MA 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
Hitting
AB H R BI
Frost 3 2 2 0
Reynolds 3 2 0 0
Martin 3 0 0 0
Shay 3 1 0 1
Knight 3 0 0 0
Grose 3 0 0 0
Larson 2 1 0 0
Ehlen 2 0 0 0
Sackett 0 0 0 0
Cole 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 25 6 2 1
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Grose 7 3 1 3 6
TOTALS 7 3 1 3 6
Mt. Ayr 19, Earlham 9
The Raiderettes turned around after the tough loss the night before and put 19 runs on the board after seven innings.
The scoring came early in this game with the Raiders falling behind 8-6 through three innings, but the Raider bats came alive in the fourth, putting up five runs before adding eight more in the next three innings.
The Raiders scored 19 runs on 17 hits, with 12 RBI, while Jaydon Knight led the team with four runs on three hits with four RBI and a home run.
The Raiders committed four errors in the field, while recording 17 putouts on 26 total chances with five assists.
On the mound was Tyler Martin, Ryce Reynolds, Adler Shay and Raines Sackett.
Martin allowed three hits and one run, Reynolds allowed three runs on three hits, Shay allowed five runs on four hits and Sackett allowed one hit.
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
MA 1 1 4 5 2 5 1 19
EC 2 3 3 0 0 1 0 9
Hitting
AB H R BI
Frost 5 2 2 2
Martin 4 0 0 1
Reynolds 6 2 2 0
Shay 4 3 4 0
Knight 4 3 4 4
Stark 6 2 2 2
Drake 5 2 2 2
Grose 4 2 1 1
Ehlen 3 1 1 0
Larson 0 0 0 0
Sackett 0 0 0 0
Cole 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 38 17 19 12
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Martin 2 3 1 1 0
Reynolds 2 3 2 3 0
Shay 2 4 0 5 0
Sackett 1 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 7 11 3 9 0
Mt. Ayr 5, MStM 4
The Raiders took care of business when they traveled to St. Marys to face the Martensdale-St. Marys Blue Devils.
The Raiders put three runs on the board, while allowing one run to the Blue Devils in the first inning and were able to hold the lead until things tied up in the fifth with the Raiders adding one and the Blue Devils adding three to make it a 4-4 game.
The Raiders scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh while keeping the Blue Devils off the board after a Daron Drake strikeout to end the game.
Raines Sackett started on the mound and pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four runs off six hits.
Sackett threw a great game but the Blue Devils began to find a sweet spot into the fourth inning and with loaded bases, Jaixen Frost stepped to the mound.
Frost struck out one and allowed one hit before getting out of the fourth.
Drake closed the contest out, striking out two.
Behind the mound, the Raider fielders committed only one error, while recording 21 putouts on 30 attempts with eight assists on the night.
At the plate, the Raiders were led by Frost who was two-for-four with two runs and Adler Shay who was two-for-four with one run and a run batted in.
The win put the Raiders one step closer to the Pride of Iowa Championship with Nodaway Valley Wolverines now standing in their way.
“The Wayne game did not go the way we wanted, so we burned two guys that night and there was no way they could come in,”said coach Bill Huntington. “Our intention, if we could have worked it was start Sackett and then Jace. We had to save Jace for Southeast Warren, which was a heck of a game. We are confident in Raines because when he throws it across the plate, he’s very difficult to hit. He has a funky delivery.”
Coach Maldonado touched on the Blue Devils as a team and what it meant to defeat such a great baseball team.
“A great quality team like this, at their field, with a great pitcher on the mound, we had to play defense and hit the ball,” said caoch Maldonado. “We can put hits together and it’s like a firestorm sometime. It was just a great game.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
MA 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 5
MSM 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 4
Hitting
AB H R BI
Frost 4 2 2 0
Reynolds 4 1 0 1
Shay 4 2 1 1
Knight 3 1 1 0
Martin 3 1 0 2
Stark 3 0 0 0
Larson 2 0 1 0
Grose 3 1 0 0
Ehlen 2 0 0 0
Sackett 1 0 0 0
Drake 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 29 8 5 4
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Sackett 4.1 6 4 4 0
Frost 0.2 1 0 0 1
Drake 2 0 0 0 2
TOTALS 7 7 4 4 3
Mt. Ayr 12, NV 0
It was a sweet end to the long week for Mount Ayr as they became back-to-back Pride of Iowa champions, while this time they aren’t sharing the title with anyone, after defeating the Wolverines 12-0 in five innings Friday night.
The Raiders started the contest off with five runs put across the plate to set the tone.
They were held to one run in the second, before adding six in the next two.
Throughout the season, the Raider bats have continued to rack up hits throughout the lineup and Friday night was no different.
Ryce Reynolds, Jaydon Knight and Tyler Martin combined for six runs, six hits and eight runs batted in.
The Raiders were only struck out once the entire night.
The mound allowed three hits total, with one walk and 11 strikeouts.
Frost pitched four innings, allowing three hits and striking out nine, while Knight closed the game, throwing 11 pitches and striking out two batters.
Behind the mound, the defense was flawless, committing no errors and recording 15 putouts on 19 total chances with four assists.
“I feel really proud of our guys, they’ve came out and responded and everyone was smoking the ball,” said coach Maldonado. “There was solid base running. This is what we’ve been trying to push these kids to do all year.”
Coach Bill Huntington mentioned he was still feeling the effects of the Martensdale-St. Marys win.
“I’m just a bag of emotions since it was such a huge win last night and I hoped our guys didn’t come out flat,” said coach Huntington. “They were joking, or laughing on the bus and they just came out and put on a performance. I will agree with Anthony that baserunning was fantastic. It’s the little things.”
The coaches were happy with all facets of the game.
“Frost looked phenomenal on the mound, Knight closing the game, holy smokes.” said coach Huntington.
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
MA 5 1 4 2 0 x x 12
NV 0 0 0 0 0 x x 0
Hitting
AB H R BI
Frost 3 1 3 0
Reynolds 2 2 4 1
Shay 2 1 1 2
Knight 4 1 1 4
Martin 3 2 1 3
Stark 3 1 0 0
Drake 2 1 0 0
Grose 2 1 1 1
Larson 3 2 0 1
Sackett 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 25 11 12 12
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Frost 4 3 0 0 9
Knight 1 0 0 0 2
TOTALS 5 3 0 0 11