#10 Eagles Roll Through Lakers and #6 Hawks
Cedar Rapids, IA- The #10 Kirkwood Eagles had big mid-week ICCAC matchups with the Iowa Lakers and #6 Southeastern Hawks coming to Cedar Rapids. Kirkwood Baseball honored former head baseball coach, John Lewis in between games on Wednesday. The Kirkwood Baseball Field is now named after the former coach and will henceforth be known as Lewis Field. As head coach of the program from 1979-2011, Lewis was named to the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well as the Kirkwood Athletic Hall of Fame. An endowed scholarship was created in the former coach's name, which will be awarded annually to a Kirkwood baseball player.
In the first matchup of the week, the Eagles took on the Lakers on Tuesday. An offensive clinic would be an understatement when talking about the Eagles and this game. 13 different Kirkwood players would have RBIs. Ethan Bowers, Seth Winkler, Addison Binnie, Colton Forslund, Jaxon Schumacher, and Bronx Lewis would all contribute one; Alex Ritzer, Owen Ross, Michael Delzell, and Connor Woods would each have two; Brayden Hellum, Clayton Campidilli, and Cal Sullivan would all have three. The bottom of the 4th inning was home run central for the Eagles. All three of their home runs came in the inning and started with Brayden Hellum, followed by Cal Sullivan, and right after that by Addison Binnie. Caden Stoffer started on the mound for the Eagles and pitched 5 innings. In those 5 innings, he gave up 4 hits and 2 runs. Yutaro Goto and Asheton Smith each pitched an inning striking out 2 batters a piece. The Eagles took this game by a score of 24-3.
With the #6 Hawks coming into town on Wednesday, the Eagles knew they would have a battle in their doubleheader. With already having beat Southeastern at their place earlier this year, the Eagles were looking to make it a clean sweep. In the first game, it was Kirkwood who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st off a sac fly from Addison Binnie and a single from Cal Sullivan. Binnie would be big for the Eagles in the bottom of the 3rd as well, hitting a single that scored both Sullivan and Davis, making it a 4-0 lead. Although Southeastern would try making a push in the top of the 2nd, it wasn't enough to overcome and the Eagles would win 5-2. Boede Rahe started on the mound for Kirkwood, pitching a very solid 5 innings. The starting pitcher only let up 3 hits, struck out 2 batters, and gave up 0 runs.
The second game would be decided by only 1 run. Kirkwood would jump out to the lead again early in the bottom of the 1st, 1-0. Southeastern would score two of their own in the top of the 3rd but a home run by Bronx Lewis in the bottom of the 4th inning would tie the game up. The Eagles would take the lead right back when Eethan Bowers hit a single that scored Alex Ritzer. In the bottom of the 6th Southeastern would walk a Kirkwood run in and Brayden Hellum would score another with a sac fly to center field to score Bronx Lewis making the game 5-2. Kirkwood would end up closing the game 5-4 and close the door on any comeback. They would walk about from the season series against the Hawks with a clean sweep.
Up next for Kirkwood is a trip to Iowa Falls this weekend for their three-game series with Ellsworth.
