By RYAN STONEBRAKER
MOUNT AYR, Iowa – After beating Essex in their first postseason game, the Mount Ayr Raiders beat POI rival Southwest Valley 14-3 on July 7 at home to advance along the tournament trail. The Raiders out-hit SW Valley 13-3 in the ball game and won the game by the mercy run rule.
Early on, however, it didn’t look like that would be the case.
SW Valley opened the game with a 3-run top of the first inning to seemingly take control of the game. That lead stood until the bottom of the second when Mount Ayr erupted for six runs to take the lead for good. The first run in the inning was a Drew Graham solo home run. The Raiders batted around in the inning. Mount Ayr took a 7-3 lead in the first and 11-3 lead in the fifth with three runs. The Raiders ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a walk-off three-run home run by Graham to get the score to 14-3.
Jaxsen Walter kept the Timberwolves offense in check in the game after working five innings. He gave up three runs on three hits. He struck out eight and walked three batters.
Mount Ayr had 13 hits in the game with five players collecting multi-hit games. Walter, Rowan Sackett, Adler Reed, Graham and Isac Dugan all had two hits. Other hits for the Raiders were from Hayes Stogdill, Tyler Still and Tytan Gourley. Graham had a pair of home runs and drove in four runs. Still, Walter and Stogdill each had two RBI while Sackett and Reed each had an RBI.
