Reivers Take Three of Four From Muscatine

The Iowa Western Reivers used 13 home runs and two complete games on the mound to take three of four games against Muscatine this past weekend to push their conference record to 11-1.

Game 4: IWCC-8 vs Muscatine-9

A seven run spurt by Muscatine in the final two innings kept Iowa Western from sweeping its third consecutive conference opponent.

The Reivers would come out a little sluggish from a long weekend and wouldn't score until they put three runs up in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. Muscatine would not go down without a fight as they pushed four across in the bottom half of the inning tying the game at six.

The Reivers would fire back as they answered with two runs of their own with sophomore Anthony Bemboom delivering a bases loaded, two out twoRBI double to give the Reivers an 8-6 lead going into the bottom half of the seventh. Again, Muscatine answered by loading the bases with no outs before winning on a hit batsman and an RBI single.

Despite not getting the win freshman Taylor Eikenberry threw well allowing only one earned run on one hit while striking out a career high 10 in five innings.

The Reivers were led at the plate by freshman Brandon Bass and sophomore Brent Seifert who would go a combined 3-7 with two RBIs, three runs scored, a double and a home run.

Game 3: IWCC-14 vs Muscatine-1

The Reivers blasted their way to their third victory in as many games belting four home runs and receiving a dominating performance on the mound by sophomore Zach Willand who threw a complete game allowing just one run on three hits.

The Reivers came out early as they put up six runs in the first two innings, taking an early 7-1 lead. This is all the run production Willand would need as he kept the Muscatine offense at bay for the rest of the game. The offense would put up seven more runs over the next three innings Muscatine to win by the run-rule for the second time of the weekend.

Iowa Western was led at the plate by sophomores Brent Seifert,Ryan Hutchison and Anthony Bemboom who would go a combined 6-8 with 13 RBIs, four runs scored, a double and four home runs.

Game 2: IWCC-12 vs Muscatine-3

A slow start didn't stop Reivers as they completed a sweep of day one.

After winning game one in run rule fashion,the Reiver offense was kept at bay for the first two innings. After pushing across a run in the third and two in the fourth inning, Iowa Western started to catch its stride at the plate but found themselves in a tied ball game after the end of four innings 3-3.

Over the next three innings Iowa Western caught fire, scoring nine runs to take control of the series 2-0 going into day two.

The Reivers were led at the plate by sophomore Anthony Bemboom and freshman Michael Schulze who went a combined 5-7 with five runs scored and three RBIs with a double and a home run.

On the mound freshman Nick Hogue picked up his fifth win of the year throwing four innings. Sophomore Scot Donner took the mound in the fifth inning and shut the door, throwing a scorless three innings only allowing one hit over that span.

Game 1: IWCC-13 vs Muscatine-3

The Reivers' hot bats and solid pitching propelled them to game one vicorty in run rule fashion.

The Reiver offense came out early setting a ton putting up one run in the first inning and five in the second to take an early 6-0 lead after two. Muscatine was held scoreless through the first five innings.

Iowa Western kept its hot bats going as the Reivers piled on seven more runs in the later innings to take a comanding 13-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. Muscatine tacked on a three run home run but could not muster any more as Sophomore Jordan Kistler would shut the door getting the next two outs for his third complete game and fifth victory on the year.

Kistler would scatter three runs on five hits on way to his complete game.

The Reivers were led at the plate by sophomores Brent Seifert, Anthony Bemboom and freshman Tanner Moore who went a combined 8-for-11 with six runs scored, two RBIs, a double and two home runs.

Head Coach Marc Rardin had this to say on the victories:

"It was huge to win 3 out of the 4 games and win the conference series. Being 11-1 in conference with only a weekend to go puts our position as #1 seed in the conference tournament in our hands." Rardin continued by saying "our hitting has really been sensational - we are currently 2nd in the country in batting average. My concern is our depth in pitching staff. Reality is, we will get to the conference tournament and games are 9 innings long - not 7 innings. 2 more innings per game is 6 extra outs per game that you have to pitch and get the outs. That means that if we just play 3 games in the tourney that we will still have to get 18 extra outs on the weekend, you need the pitching to do that. We our getting better every week, but we do a great job of staying in the moment and just concentrating on getting better today."