Raiders on top of POI after week 1 

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By RYAN STONEBRAKER

MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The Raider baseball team sits atop the Pride of Iowa Conference standings through the first week of games. Mount Ayr won all three of their POI games and also a non-conference game to remain unbeaten at 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the POI going into this week.
Last week Mount Ayr hosted Winterset Monday night and will be back in action Wednesday and Thursday with road games at Clarke and Lenox. The Raiders return home next week on Monday and Tuesday with games against Murray Monday and state ranked Martensdale-St. Mary’s on Tuesday.
The Raiders opened the season with a big home win in a slug fest over East Union, 16-12. The Eagles are hoping to contend for the POI title this season and this win was a good one for the Raiders to get as they defended their home field.
The game was close with each team scoring three times in the first inning. Both teams added runs to their total in the second inning with the Raiders leading 5-4 after two innings. Mount Ayr extended its lead to 8-4 with a three run third. East Union cut the Raiders lead to 8-7 with three runs in the top of the fourth inning, but again Mount Ayr answered with runs in the fourth, plating five to take a 13-7 lead. Each team scored three runs in the sixth as the score was 16-10 after six innings. East Union could not get closer than the final score.
Each team had nine hits in the game.  Mount Ayr escaped a rough defensive game as the Raiders committed five errors. Adler Reed got the win after working four innings, striking out seven, walking two. He gave up seven runs on seven hits. Jaxsen Walter and Drew Graham also pitched.
Hayes Stogdill was 3-for-3 with a walk and five runs scored. Rowan Sackett and Walter each were 2-for-4 and combined to have seven RBI. Walter had a home run in the game. Other hits were from Graham and Tyler Still.
Caden Clear led East Union with a 4-for-5 night with two RBI’s. Braden Kelley hit a home run in the game and had two hits and 3 RBI’s for the Eagles.
The first non-conference game of the season saw the Raiders hold off Clarinda 12-11 in their second close game in a row. Coming off of a big season opening win over East Union, Mount Ayr again put up double-digits in their run production to out-hit the Cardinals 14-9 in the game. Two big innings early would prove to be enough as Mount Ayr dropped five first inning runs to take an early 5-0 lead. Clarinda answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to get within two runs, 5-3. Mount Ayr would score six runs in the top of the second inning to take its biggest lead of the game, 11-3. Mount Ayr led 11-8 going to the final inning.
The Raiders scored a run in the top of the seventh that proved to be the winner as Clarinda nearly rallied back for the win with four runs in the bottom of the inning, but no more.
Mount Ayr had four players with multi-hit games and every batter that had a plate appearance in the game for the Raiders had a hit. Adler Reed led going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Hayes Stogdill, Tyler Still and Tytan Gourley each had two hits. Drew Graham drove in three runs and had a double while Still, Gourley and Stogdill each had a pair of RBI.
Mount Ayr used three pitchers. Stogdill got the win after working three innings.  Rowan Sackett and Graham also pitched in the game.
Last Thursday Mount Ayr dominated their game with Nodaway Valley in a 12-2 win in five innings. Mount Ayr out-hit the Wolverines 9-4 and had a pair of five-run innings in the top of the first to set the tone in the game, and again in the top of the fifth to seal the deal.  Nodaway Valley scored its only two runs in the bottom of the third to get within 6-2.
Rowan Sackett had a big game, going 3-for-3 with four RBI with a double and a triple. Drew Graham had two hits, two RBI and a double while Adler Reed had a pair of doubles and a RBI. Other hits were from Jaxsen Walter and Tyler Still with each having an RBI as well.  Still pitched the complete game over five innings. Still struck out three and walked two while giving up two unearned runs on four hits.
The week ended last Friday with a 5-0 win at home over SE Warren. The Raiders out-hit the Warhawks 11-3 in the game.
Mount Ayr got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first on a three-run homer for Jaxsen Walter that scored Adler Reed and Hayes Stogdill for an early 3-0 lead. That lead held until the bottom of the sixth when the Raiders pushed home a pair of insurance runs on a Reed RBI single and a sacrifice bunt by Stogdill to put the score at 5-0.
Walter and Drew Graham combined for a 3-hit shutout.  Walter started and was the winning pitcher after working four and two-thirds innings. He did not allow a hit, struck out four and walked three. Graham pitched two and a third innings in relief and struck out three, walked one and gave up three hits. Walter led at the plate as well with a home run and three RBI.
SE Warren used three pitchers with starter Sawyer Allen taking the loss after four and a third innings of work.  He struck out six and gave up five earned runs on ten hits.
Reed led Mount Ayr at the plate, going 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Avery Wolfe also has a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Other hits were from Rowan Sackett, Graham, Tyler Still and Tytan Gourley.

Pride of Iowa Conference Baseball Standings
As of Sunday, May 31

Team POI Overall
Mount Ayr 3-0 4-0
MTSM 2-0 10-2
SW Valley 1-1 1-1
East Union 1-2 3-2
Lenox 0-0 2-3
Wayne 0-0 1-2
Nodaway Valley 0-2 1-5
SE Warren 0-2 0-3