Iowa Western drops two against Garden City

GARDEN CITY, Kansas - Freshman right-handed pitcher Jake Thompson struck out five of the first six Garden City hitters in game one. He would give up two runs with two outs in the second (one earned) and four runs (two earned) in the third before freshman left-handed pitcher Kyle Gehrs would come in from the bullpen. The Reivers committed four of their five errors during these innings.

Sophomore right fielder Adam Lavelle would lead off the fourth inning by getting hit by a pitch. Sophomore first baseman Kevin Starr (1-for-4, 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI) would later score Lavelle to put the Reivers on the scoreboard.

Freshman designated hitter Brett Bass would reach on an error with one out in the fifth inning and score on freshman center fielder Ryan Popescu's (2-for-3, 2 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI) pinch-hit double. Freshman third baseman Damek Tomscha (2-for-3, BB, RBI) would cut the deficit to four runs after singling home Popescu.

The top of the sixth inning was led off by solo homerun from freshman backstop Levi Meyer (2-for-4, HR, 1 R, 2 RBI). Freshman second baseman Sam Bumpers (2-for-4, 2B, 1 R) would follow Meyer with a double to center field and be brought in by Popescu on his double to right-center field.

Kevin Starr would line a double over the left fielder's head in the top of the seventh inning and be driven home by Meyer. The Reivers tried to come back in the late innings offensively, but came up a couple of runs short.

The winning pitcher from Garden City was Alex Ellison (5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2BB, 2 HBP, 3K) and the losing pitcher was Jake Thompson (2.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). The save went to Tyler Rogers (1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HBP, 1 K). ______________________________________________________________________________

Game 2 featured two left-handed pitchers that would go deep into their starts. The winning pitcher from Garden City was Todd Brazell (6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) and the losing pitcher from Iowa Western was freshman Tyler Ware (5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). Submarine closer Tyler Rogers (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, O BB, 0 K) would come in and close out the game to record his second save of the day.

Leading the way offensively for the Reivers was sophomore left-fielder Tanner Moore. He was 3-for-4 in the second game, a homerun short of the cycle. He would score once and drive in a run in the seventh inning. Damek Tomscha, Levi Meyer, Adam Lavelle, and Sam Bumpers would contribute one hit each to the contest.

The Reivers will travel to Liberal, KS for a double header against Seward Community College on Monday, February 14th. First pitch is set for 1:00 PM CST