The Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) baseball team fell to 1-6 for the season after suffering three consecutive losses to Butler Community College (BCC) February 21 and 22 at El Dorado, Kan. A fourth game in the series, scheduled for Feb. 23, was postponed.
BCC defeated the Bears by a 30-13 score on Feb. 21 and won by scores of 5-2 and 10-0 on Feb. 22.
BCC collected 23 hits, including three doubles and two home runs, in its win on Feb. 21. DMACC began the game with eight runs in the top of the first, but BCC rallied for five runs in the bottom of the inning, three in the second and all but put the game out of reach with an 11-run rally in the third.
DMACC collected 20 hits off BCC pitching, including three apiece from sophomores Carter Troncin of Urbandale, Grant Bohling of Lincoln, Neb., and freshman Elijah Rude of Hudson, Wis. Sophomore Dylan Voves of Mason City and freshmen Cadyn Schwabe of Thompson, N.D., Dayne Leonard of Spring Grove, Wis., Carson Schau of Waukee and Ben Nippolt of St. Paul, Minn., had two hits apiece. Schau had a pair of doubles and Troncin, Bohling, Leonard and Nippolt had one double apiece.
Nippolt drove in three DMACC runs and Bohling and Leonard had two RBIs apiece.
Sophomore Will Moritz of West Des Moines pitched the first two innings for the Bears, allowing 10 runs on seven hits. He walked four batters and struck out two. Freshman Bret Price of Boone gave up five runs on two hits and walked two batters but was not credited with any innings pitched and sophomore Logan Ymker of Sioux Falls, S.D., allowed four runs on four hits, struck out one and walked two in one inning on the mound. Sophomore Cole Schumacher of Bennington, Neb., went an inning and a third, allowing three runs on two hits. He struck out two batters and walked three and sophomore Keaton Duckett of Johnston allowed three runs and walked two batters in a third of an inning. Sophomore Jonas Sanders of Fargo, N.D., closed out the game for DMACC, allowing five runs on eight hits.
Troncin hit a pair of solo home runs and freshman Nolan Kelliher of Middleton, Wis., had a pair of base hits in DMACC's loss in the opener on Feb. 22. The Bears scored single runs in the first and third innings for a 2-1 lead but BCC went ahead 3-2 with two runs in the bottom of the third and padded its advantage with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Sophomore Kolton Scherbenske of Rapid City, S.D., pitched the first five and a third innings, allowing five runs on three hits. He struck out six and walked four. Freshman Ray Ray Douglas of Sioux City went two-thirds of an inning, surrendering one hit, striking out two and walking one batter.
BCC's Izack Tiger tossed a no-hitter in winning the second game on Feb. 21. BCC got the win behind seven runs in the bottom of the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Sophomore Kaden Peterson of Luther went one inning for DMACC and struck out two batters. Price worked two and two-thirds innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits. He struck out four and walked one. Freshman Blake Grevengoed of West Des Moines went two-thirds of an inning and allowed one run with one one strikeout and two walks and sophomore Jacob Passow of Germantown, Wis., went a third of an inning and allowed one run on two hits. He walked one batter.
The DMACC baseball team will face Northern Oklahoma College-Enid (NOCE) in a three-game series Feb. 28 and 29 at Enid, Okla. The two teams will play a single game on Feb. 28 and a doubleheader on Feb. 29.