Grand Start but Flat Finish for Saints

Seward came out swinging but Iowa Western left the ballpark swinging with a 17-9 run rule win in seven innings Saturday night at the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado. The defening champion Reivers out hit Seward 20-10 and scored 11 runs during the final three innings.

The Saints scored four in the top of the first. JT Bean singled home Tanner Rainey. Jon Mestas blooped an infield single to first to drive home Willie Gustin, Eddie Williams reached first on an error at first which scored two more runs. The Reivers scored four in the second when Mitch Warne hit a grand slam off SCCC starter Logan Hall. The Saints scored three in the third when Eddie Williams singled home Tyler Hill and Jordan Dallalio rifled a double to right center to score Ben Wainwright and Jon Mestas to make it 7-4. Iowa Western scored two in the fourth to make the score 7-6. Iowa Western scored five in the fifth and chased Seward ace Logan Hall who allowed eight runs in four innings. Just four runs were earned. The Saints showed signs of life in the sixth Tyler Hill drove home Gustin and Wainwright hit a sacrifice fly to center driving home Jake Barrios to make it 11-9 IWCC. The Reivers chased home three more in the sixth and three in the seventh. Keegan Hucul pitched one inning allowing six runs and Austin Beisel allowed three runs in an inning and one third.

The loss snaps a nine game Saints winning streak and a stretch of winning 19 of 21 games. Seward is 44-19 overall and plays Southern Union, Alabama Sunday at 3 p.m. central time on Talkradio 1270 and kscbnews.net. Navarro beat Southern Union 15-5 in five innings. Also Central Arizona topped South Georgia 13-3 in five innings and Potomac State topped Jefferson College, Missouri 8-5.