East High and Le Mars played a crucial doubleheader last night in Sioux City with the Black Raiders and Bulldogs splitting the games on the night. East won the first game 8-5 and Le Mars took the second 5-3.
The Bulldog bats were silent through the first six innings of game one not scoring anything and only gathering two hits on East’s Cam Reimer. The Black Raiders had no problem producing runs as they scored eight in the ball game with six coming in the first four innings. Le Mars finally woke up the bats with some help from the East High defense and scored five runs in the top half of the seventh inning even getting the go-ahead run to the plate in the inning as well. Unfortunately, it was too little too late as the five runs were not enough to come from behind and the Bulldogs fell 8-5. Errors were a big sticking point for Head Coach Trent Eckstaine in game 1, and he says its what kept the Bulldogs from coming back all the way.
Things turned around for Le Mars in the second game as Le Mars scored a run in the top of the second inning and scored two on a two out two-run homer off the bat of Ethan Kuiken.
There is a reason East High had been undefeated in MRAC play to this point as they mounted a comeback in bottom of the fourth capitalizing on two walks with a two-run Kelynn Jacobsen double. That brough the score closer to 3-2. The game remained this way until the top of the sixth when Le Mars go the first three runners to reach base and they scored two more with the last run coming on a sacrifice fly from Brady Williams. Coach Eckstaine attributes his team’s ability to score runs in game 2 to the mentality his team adopted after the five run inning in game 1.
East would score one more run in the top of the seventh as Le Mars went on to be the first team in the MRAC to beat East High. It was also the first victory for the Bulldogs over the Black Raiders since May 26, 2012. Freshman pitcher Ayden Hoag got the start for the Bulldogs and went five innings allowing three hits, two runs, and striking out 10. Coach Eckstaine says Hoag’s outing was crucial in the win in game two.
Another crucial component of the win was Ethan Kuiken’s day including the two-run home run in game 2. Coach Eckstaine says that it is nice to see production from him like that.
With the split, Le Mars record sits at 10-6 and 10-4 in the MRAC which puts them three games out of first place. The Bulldogs start a six-game homestand tomorrow with a doubleheader against Sioux City North and then a single non-conference game Friday against #4 Remsen St. Mary’s.
Tuesday Scores:
Baseball:
Missouri River Activities Conference:
Bishop Heelan 9 Council Bluffs AL 7
Bishop Heelan 5 Council Bluffs AL 4
Sioux City West 11 Sergeant Bluff-Luton 1
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 10 Sioux City West 5
Sioux City North 18 Council Bluffs TJ 1
Sioux City North 9 Council Bluffs TJ 5
War Eagle Conference:
Gehlen Catholic 8 Sioux Central 0
Unity Christian 10 Western Christian 0
George-Little Rock 5 MMCRU 1
Emmetsburg 6 Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 2
Western Valley Conference:
#3 Kingsley-Pierson 11 Cherokee 6
Alta-Aurelia 11 OABCIG 2
Logan-Magnolia 14 West Monona 4
Woodbury Central 12 West Sioux 7
Softball:
Missouri River Activities Conference:
Le Mars 11 Sioux City East 4
Le Mars 12 Sioux City East 3
Bishop Heelan 15 Council Bluffs AL 1
Bishop Heelan 8 Council Bluffs AL 5
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 15 Sioux City West 5
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 18 Sioux City West 0
Sioux City North 10 Council Bluffs TJ 9
Sioux City North 7 Council Bluffs TJ 2
War Eagle Conference:
Gehlen Catholic 7 Woodbury Central 0
#7 Akron-Westfield 4 West Sioux 1
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 7 Emmetsburg 6
Hinton 3 MOC-Floyd Valley 1
MMCRU 5 Kingsley-Pierson 4
Unity Christian 8 Western Christian 6
Western Valley Conference:
Sioux Central 11 River Valley 8
East Sac County 8 MVAOCOU 7
#1 Newell-Fonda 12 #11 Ridge View 2
Alta-Aurelia 15 OABCIG 4
