Reiver Baseball Sweeps Indian Hills, In-Line to Host Region Championship Series

COUNCIL BLUFFS - Iowa Western Baseball swept ICCAC Conference rival Indian Hills over the weekend, locking in the number one seed in the standings and will host the Region 11 Championship Series.

Game one saw the Reivers (33-17) jump on top on the first pitch of the game when Cooper Neville launched a solo shot over the right field fence for his 6th home run of the season.  The team plated three more in the bottom of the 2nd on a delayed steal of home from Cade Tousa and a 2-run single from Evan Saunders with the bases loaded.

Iowa Western's Ace, Noah Scott, shut down the Warrior offense, scattering just three hits over his seven innings pitched, striking out four batters to earn his 8th win of the season, 6-0.  With the win, Scott recorded his 20th victory of his Reiver career, passing Jake Thompson (2011-12) and Kirk Clark (2007-08) for the most career victories at IWCC.

In game two, Indian Hills (24-21) struck first on a sacrifice fly from Ethan Acevedo in the top of the 3rd inning.  Iowa Western answered back in the bottom of the frame, Tousa came home on a passed ball to score from 3rd base, then Neville scored on another delayed steal of home plate to make it 2-1.  The Warriors would take a 3-2 lead in the top of the 5th, scoring two runs on a dropped third strike with a runner on 3rd and a sacrifice fly. 

The score would remain the same going into the bottom of the 9th inning with the Reivers down to their last three outs.  Coby Hatcher was plunked in the back with one out to put the tying run on first base.  He would advance to second on a ground ball out, leaving it up to Owen Baxter to try and tie the game.  Baxter would launch a ball over the center fielder's head for the RBI triple to even the game a 3-3.

In the 10th, Indian Hills took a 4-3 lead on an RBI double from Cale Clark to put Iowa Western in a hole.  After Kane Wilson led off with a single up the middle and Charlie Kalbrener rolled over into a 4-6-3 double play, Evan Saunders singled with two outs to give the team some life.  Brody Leyboldt would pinch-run for Saunders and appeared to be caught stealing second base but the ball popped out of the shortstop's glove to keep him safe. 

Nolan Geislinger tied the game on an RBI single to right field, then promptly stole second base to put the winning run in scoring position. Hatcher would be intentionally walked to bring up Skylar Graham.  Graham would walk it off with a bloop single down the first baseline to score Leyboldt, racing home from second to lock up the series.

Game three on Sunday afternoon had Indian Hills score early to take a 2-0 lead, only to see it erased in the bottom of the 4th inning on a two-run single from Graham.  The Reivers would add one more in the 5th and two more in the 6th, Graham recording his 3rd RBI of the game to make it 5-2.  The home team added one more in the 7th inning to make it 6-2, and the Reiver bullpen shut down the Warriors the rest of the way. Creighton Tuzzio threw six innings of solid work to earn his 3rd win of the year.

With the sweep, Iowa Western earned the number one seed in the ICCAC Division One standings and takes control to host Indian Hills again on May 9th and 10th for the Region 11 Championship with two more wins.  Next up for the Reivers is a two-game road trip to Iowa Lakes on Wednesday, then the team will be back at home for the regular season finale on Friday and Saturday versus Ellsworth.