(Elk Horn, IA) – The Exira-EHK Spartans had a 1-1 week last week with a win over Boyer Valley 10-6 and an 11-9 loss to Glidden Ralston. While the Spartans outhit the Wildcats 9-6, they continued to leave runners stranded on the bases. Head Coach Randy Kelly told his boys to move forward and look ahead to this current week of baseball action.
While earning that first loss of the season, they returned on Monday to add another win to the board, beating Ar-We-Va 10-4. The success of the Spartans has come from their plate presence. Exira-EHK is batting .321 overall as a team through the early portion of the season with 32 total RBIs and the boys have walked a total of 28 times. Being disciplined at the plate so early in the season is an especially comforting thing for the Spartans and it goes all the way back to working in the gym.
The success continues to lie with Jameson Kilworth, Austin Rasmussen, and Jaiden Pettepier who are all batting well over .400 at the plate and continue to make the necessary plays on the field. These three carry the leadership qualities and confidence to help the continuous success of Exira-EHK this season.
Exira-EHK’s overall team ERA continues to dwindle down but still sits at 4.80 overall. Many of these pitchers started off the season with no prior practice on the mound due to their participation in postseason play in the spring sports season. Coach Kelly is proud of the tenacity that his pitchers have shown out on the field, especially given that they were forced to jump right into the baseball season.
With a full slate of games this week, Coach Kelly and company are looking to continue to rack on the wins. They’ve got a chance to do it, but their opponents aren’t going to go down without a fight.
Exira-EHK takes on Earlham tonight on the road, they’ll travel to CAM on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. start and host Panorama on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. opening pitch.
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