Raiders baseball reach district finals
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By RYAN STONEBRAKER
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The Mount Ayr baseball team had a fine summer, winning 13 games and turning in a winning season. The Raiders were 13-8 overall and 8-5 in the Pride of Iowa Conference in 2026. Mount Ayr was led by head coach Chirs Piperno and assistant coach Jacob Brewer.
Martensdale-St. Mary’s won the Pride of Iowa Conference title this season with a perfect 14-0 mark in league play and a 30-4 record overall. The Blue Devils and Lenox each reached a substate final in Class 1A, but neither advanced to the state tournament.
The Raiders only lost back-to-back games once in a stretch of three straight losses to Lenox, Martensdale-St. Mary’s and SW Valley. The Raiders had a season high four-game win streak to start the season over East Union, Clarinda, Nodaway Valley and SE Warren. Mount Ayr won a pair of playoff games against Essex 19-0 and SW Valley 14-3 to reach a Class 1A District final game. There, they fell to Lenox 5-4 to end the season.
Mount Ayr’s wins this year were over East Union twice, Clarinda, Nodaway Valley twice, SE Warren, Lenox, Wayne twice, Van Buren, Bedford, Essex and SW Valley.
The Raiders will graduate seniors Rowan Sackett and Tyler Still. Sackett will play baseball at DMACC while Still will play baseball at SWICC. Mount Ayr will have a potential senior class in 2027 of Adler Reed, Manny Hyde, Hayes Stogdill, Jeremiah Gilliand, Jaxsen Walter, Tytan Gourley, Avery Wolfe and Drew Graham. Toss in Weston Adams, Bryson Martin and Isac Dugan and the Raiders look to be a force next summer.
Sackett led Mount Ayr in batting with 33 hits to go with a .500 batting average and .558 on-base percentage. Reed added 31 hits, a .463 average and a .566 on-base percentage. Graham led the Raiders in home runs and RBIs with three round trippers and 29 kncoked in to go with 28 hits, a .406 average and a .468 on-base percentage. Stogdill had 24 hits and batted .381. Gourley, Still and Walter each had 13 or more hits.
The Raiders were a menace on the bases with steals this summer, swiping 134 bases in 141 attempts. Seven different Raiders had 10 or more steals this season. Reed led with 33 while Stogdill had 23. Sackett and Walter added 17 and 15 respectively.
Pitching wise, all but two pitchers who threw innings are scheduled to return in 2027 including three of the four rotation pieces. Reed and Walter return after each making five starts and throwing over 20 innings. Walter had a 3.00 ERA and Reed an ERA of 3.67. Walter was 4-0 and Reed 2-3. Graham also is back after being a pitch anything type of player leading the Raiders in games played, innings, ERA (1.17) and strikeouts with 46.
