CMB’s Stover, PCM’s Brown earn spots on HOIC first team

Two area seniors who played a significant role in their team’s success this season were named to the Heart of Iowa Conference first team in baseball.

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter ace pitcher Brady Stover and Prairie City-Monroe ace Austin Brown were both first-team selections. The Raiders (7-8) and Mustangs (7-9) finished next to each other in the conference standings.

Saydel won the HOIC title at 15-0, while Gilbert was 12-4, and North Polk and Roland-Story both finished 10-6.

Saydel pitcher Rece Martin, infielder Devin Porter and catcher Joe Boehler were the only unanimous first-team selections.

A total of five Raiders earned HOIC honors and four Mustangs were honored.

CMB senior Brad Ritter and junior Brady Kemp were both second-team selections. Junior Creighton Caple and senior Nate Bishop were honorable mention picks.

For PCM, junior Ryan Hill was a second-team pick. Senior Clay Cooper and junior Braden Phifer were honorable mention choices.

Stover earned the first-team honor as a pitcher. In conference play, Stover was 3-0 with an earned run average of 0.75. Stover struck out 59 batters in 28 innings and opponents hit .115 off him.

Brown, who also had a great year on the mound, was named to the first team as an infielder. Brown hit .326 with four doubles and 10 RBIs. He had just three errors at first base.

Ritter and Hill were both picked to the second team as catchers, while Kemp earned the honor as an outfielder.

Kemp batted .405 in conference play, had a .511 on base percentage and scored 11 runs. He also did not commit an error in league play.

Ritter hit .375, reached base at a .487 clip and had 11 RBIs. He committed three errors and threw out five runners trying to steal a base, which ranked third in the league.

Hill was second in the HOIC with nine caught steals. He batted .333 and had a .471 on base percentage.

Caple batted .345 at the plate, had an on base percentage of .472 and scored nine runs for the Raiders. He only committed two errors at first base. Bishop batted .185 for CMB.

Cooper scored 12 runs, hit .372 and had an on base percentage of .471 for the Mustangs. He did not commit an error in center field.

Phifer batted .327, scored 10 runs and reached base at a .411 clip.

Saydel did not lose a conference game. The Eagles hit a conference-best .372, had a league-best 1.82 earned run average and committed a HOIC-low 18 errors.

Joining Stover, Brown, Martin, Porter and Boehler on the HOIC first team were Saydel outfielder Dylan Coffin, Greene County catcher Tom Gannon and infielder Reid Lamoureux, Roland-Story infielder Tyler Hovick and utility player Zach Shadlow, North Polk utility player Brett Haun and Gilbert outfielders Nick Day and Steven Lawrence.