#10 Kirkwood Goes 2-1 Over DMACC
Boone, IA- #10 Kirkwood headed northwest to take on the Des Moines Area Community College Bears this past weekend. This matchup pitted two teams very close in ICCAC standings against one another (Kirkwood 10-9, DMACC 9-11). With only a few more ICCAC series left, each one is becoming more and more important.
The first game of the series was a nine-inning battle on Saturday. It was started on the mound with Andrew Carroll for the Eagles. The pitcher pitched 6 innings and struck out 5. Boede Rahe was brought in for relief for three innings where he struck out another 3 and let up no runs. Cal Sullivan and Alex Ritzer each had three hits in their 4 at-bats with both of them hitting home runs for the Eagles. Ritzer had 3 RBIs and Sullivan added 2 of his own. Clayton Campidilli kept up his solid season with a home run of his own. The Eagles pulled off a back-and-forth game against the Bears, 8-6.
Sunday brought a 7-inning double-header between both teams. The Bears this time out-hit the Eagles 9-5. Jackson Payne pitched a complete game for Kirkwood, striking out six. Kirkwood got on the board in the top of the 3rd inning. Addison Binnie was walked and Owen Ross hit a hard line drive for a home run. With the score now tied 2-2 Brayden Hellum stepped up to the plate and hit a solo home run to take the lead 3-2. However, even with this push, it wasn't enough to overcome the runs the Bears would put up in the bottom of the 3rd and 4th innings, and the Eagles fell 4-6 in the second game of the series.
In the final game of the series, Kirkwood would put on an offensive clinic. The game would see high-scoring innings and home runs by three Eagles, Clayton Campidilli, Cal Sullivan, and Jaxon Schumacher. Sullivan started off a 4-run top of the 4th with a home run. Jaxon Schumacher and Bronx Lewis were both HBP to put runners and 1st and 2nd followed by Alex Ritzer being walked to load the bases for Ethan Bowers. Bowers hit a line drive for a single that then scored Schumacher and Lewis along with bringing Ritzer to 3rd base. Hellum would then hit a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Ritzer and making the score 5-0. In the 6th inning with 2 outs, Miles Risley would bunt to reach 1st safely and bring home Alex Ritzer, leaving runners on 1st and 2nd for Clayton Campidilli. Campidilli would step up and hit a home run scoring another 3 runs. The Eagles would then use another 6 runs in the top of the 8th to put the game well out of hand. They would leave Boone 2-1 with this 15-2 win.
Next up for the Eagles will be a home game against Iowa Lakes on Tuesday and a big doubleheader against #6 Southeastern on Wednesday.
