March 19, 2024

Stover’s arm, Balke’s experience key for Raider baseball

The Heart of Iowa Conference featured two schools that advanced to the state baseball tournament in 2015. And one was the Class 2A state champion.

The North Polk Comets went 32-5 overall, 17-1 in HOIC play and hoisted the 2A state championship trophy last year. Roland-Story placed fourth in the league but advanced to the 2A state semifinals where it lost to HOIC rival North Polk.

Throw in the fact that Saydel went 22-9 overall and 16-2 in league play and Gilbert nearly won 20 games and the rest of the HOIC is hoping things are a bit easier in 2015.

CMB was one of six schools in the conference to finish below .500, but with a hard-throwing left-hander and a five-year starter in the infield returning this season, Raider coach Max Seeman is hopeful his program is trending in the right direction.

Leading the charge toward a winning record and an upper half finish in the HOIC is junior pitcher Brady Stover and senior infielder Seth Balke.

“Brady and Seth will have a huge impact on our success,” Seeman said. “Brady has worked hard this offseason and is getting looked at by many big schools right now. Seth is a very calm and composed young man and getting that from a senior will hopefully keep the rest of the team calm and composed.”

The Raiders return seven of their nine starters in all, losing Zach Samson and Jacob Stratton to graduation.

The other varsity returners include juniors Spencer Gauch, Brad Ritter, Nate Bishop and Aric Broderick and sophomores Tucker Maxwell, Hunter McWhirter, Creighton Caple and Brady Kemp.

“Every single one of these guys will play a big role on our team this year,” Seeman said. “There are a few guys that I am really hoping will step up and be big time players for us this year that weren’t in that position last year.”

Stover will be the ace pitcher on the mound and he also trailed only Samson in batting average last year. He went 4-3 with a save on the hill in 2014, fanning 95 batters and holding down an earned run average of 2.21. He held opposing hitters to a .156 batting average.

Offensively, Stover hit .329 and scored a team-high 20 runs. He’ll play center field when he is not pitching.

Caple was third on the team with an average of .300. McWhirter hit .275, and Balke batted .228 with 10 RBIs.

As a pitcher, Balke went 3-3 in five starts and had an ERA of 3.16. He had 38 strikeouts and just seven walks.

Four of the five pitchers who logged double-digit innings last year are back in 2015. The other two are McWhirter and Bishop.

The Raiders have put a big emphasis on effort and doing the little things right in practice during the initial preseason practices.

Seeman seeks maximum effort from his team and if the Raiders also do the little things well, the wins will be easier to come by.

“Our motto this year is All Out,” Seeman said. “That means no matter what you are doing you are doing it all out. All I want is all you’ve got is something I have used in practice this season.

“If the little things are done properly, and with tremendous effort, we will have success and I try to remind my guys of this every single day.”

The Raiders open the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at home against Gilbert. CMB travels to Nevada on Wednesday and returns home to face Greene County on May 29.