March 18, 2024

Raider baseball team eager to prove they belong on big stage

Two summers ago, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter senior Brady Stover was watching the state baseball tournament at Principal Park with his father, Wes Stover.

“I remember telling my dad that it was a bummer that I would never get to play here,” Brady Stover said. “I can’t believe two years later, that is no longer true. We get to play here. And I can’t wait.”

The Raiders indeed will play at Principal Park. The sixth-seeded CMB baseball team begins Class 2A state tournament play at 7:30 p.m. Monday against third-seeded Carroll Kuemper Catholic.

CMB (14-11) takes a five-game win streak into the tournament. The Raiders outscored their opponents 21-1 in four postseason games. To continue that run and earn a win at Principal Park, CMB will have to shut down a Kuemper offense that is averaging 7.11 runs per game and hitting .325 as a team.

“They are pretty good hitting team,” CMB coach Max Seeman said.

“That is what keeps them in games.”

To counter Kuemper’s dynamic offense, Seeman expects to once again give the ball to Stover. who has allowed just one run this postseason in 28 innings. Stover is 7-0 on the season with an earned run average of 0.48, which ranks third in 2A. He leads 2A with 130 strikeouts and is third in 2A in opponents batting average at 0.086.

“I know mentally he is ready to go. He wants the ball,” Seeman said. “He’s thrown a lot of pitches this postseason, but if he’s ready to go, he’s going to be the starter.”

Stover has 67 strikeouts this postseason. That included back-to-back 19-strikeout games against Des Moines Christian and No. 9 Roland-Story in the district tournament and then another 18 strikeouts against Ogden in the substate final Wednesday.

“If he pitches, we have a good chance to win,” Seeman said.

Another big reason why the Raiders advanced to their first-ever state tournament is because the defense has cut down on errors tremendously. CMB had a conference-high 46 errors during Heart of Iowa Conference play this season, but the Raiders have only three miscues in the last three playoff games.

“We finally found what’s working well defensively,” Seeman said. “We messed around with several lineups throughout the year, but we seem to have found the spots for our guys. They are more confident, and if you are more confident you make plays.”

Like the CMB softball team, the Raider baseball squad is playing a veteran to the state tournament in the first round. Kuemper (24-11) has played in seven other state tournaments, and the Knights are making their fifth trip since claiming the 2A runner-up trophy in 2010.

“We can’t get around the fact that they have been there before,” Seeman said. “We’ll have to be even more focused for this game. They’ll be comfortable.”

The Raiders are playing in the state tournament four years after finishing a second consecutive one-win season in 2013.

“It’s always a coach’s dream to come into a new program and take a team to state,” Seeman said. “After my first year, I thought playing in the state tournament would be further down the road. But, the upperclassmen stuck it out, continued to get better and things just came together this season.”

The upperclassmen are definitely most responsible for the Raiders’ turnaround this season. Aside from Stover on the mound, junior Brady Kemp is leading the way offensively with a .408 batting average. Kemp has a team-high 23 RBIs and 20 runs scored.

Senior Brad Ritter is hitting .379 with a team-best .520 on base percentage and a team-best 14 walks. Junior Creighton Caple is hitting a shade under .300 but has an OBP of .437.

“They have been there before and they know what to expect,” Ritter said. “I just hope we are focused when get there. I think we can take in the moment but not get caught up in the atmosphere.”

Caple was still in shock that the Raiders will play in the state tournament even a day after the Raiders defeated Ogden in the substate final. He is looking forward to the experience though.

“It still hasn’t sunk in to me. I won’t believe it until I step on the field, but once I get on the field, it will be cool to soak in the moment,” Caple said.

Kuemper enters the state tournament having won four straight games and 12 of its last 13.

Six Knights come into the game hitting at least .304, led by Rease Snyder’s .435 average. Snyder also has a team-best 44 runs scored and 16 stolen bases. Brett Sibbel is hitting .360 with 26 RBIs, while Jacob Wallace is batting .357 with 31 RBIs. Tyler Laing is hitting .350 but leads the team in home runs (4) and RBIs (38).

Snyder is 5-1 on the mound with an ERA of 0.95, but Tyler Williams and Laing have logged the most postseason innings. Williams is 8-2 with an ERA of 3.13. He has 64 strikeouts in nearly 72 innings. Laing is 3-5 with an ERA of 3.40.

Unlike state softball, baseball teams are eliminated after losses at state. The winner of CMB-Kuemper Catholic takes on the Beckman Catholic-Pleasantville winner on Thursday. The start time for that 2A semifinal has not yet been determined. The 2A championship game is July 30.