BOONE – DMACC sits atop the ICCAC baseball standings with a 15-3 mark.
The Bears also sit atop the NJCAA Division II poll with an overall mark of 35-5.
NIACC, which was previously ranked No. 19 and fell out of this week’s rankings, takes its shot at the No. 1 Bears in a 4-game weekend series starting Saturday.
Doubleheaders are set for 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
“They (the Bears) pitch it well swing it up and down the lineup,” NIACC coach Travis Hergert said. “They have a solid club all the way around, but I think we have pretty good side as well.”
DMACC has a 3-game lead in the loss column over NIACC, Iowa Central and Southwestern, who all sit at 10-6 in the league.
In ICCAC games, DMACC is hitting .329 and NIACC is hitting .306. DMACC’s on-base percentage is .414 and NIACC’s is .406.
NIACC has 35 doubles in league games compared to DMACC’s 27. DMACC has 14 home runs and NIACC has six.
Pitching-wise in the league, NIACC has a team ERA of 3.04 and DMACC’s is 3.69. DMACC has 103 strikeouts compared to 92 for the Trojans.
Sophomore Edwin Medina has a .477 batting average with 11 doubles, six triples, four home runs and 38 RBIs to lead the Bears.
Freshman right-hander Dakota Freese is 6-1 with a 3.04 ERA with 75 strikeouts and 31 walks in 50 1/3 innings pitched for DMACC. Also, freshman right-hander Ryan Fritze is 6-1 with a 5.33 ERA with 32 strikeouts and 21 walks in 49 innings pitched.
Sophomore Ryan Voves leads NIACC at the plate with a .381 average. Voves, who has six doubles and nine stolen bases, has an on-base percentage of .491.
On the mound, sophomores Lucas Bakker and Joey Reed will start Saturday for NIACC. Sophomore Tim Black and freshman Nick Veale will start on Sunday.
Bakker is 6-0 with a 1.76 ERA in 41 innings pitched. He has 43 strikeouts and 11 walks.
“Lucas is very professional in his day to day routine,” Hergert said. “He’s the best I’ve had with the way he approaches his bullpens, his film study, the weight room. He takes all the information that we give him. That is what makes him so good.”
Tale of the tape
NIACC DMACC
Record 19-9 35-3
Conference 10-6 15-3
Batting Avg. .341 .331
On-base percentage .441 .428
Doubles 59 76
Triples 4 9
Home runs 10 26
ERA 2.94 3.56
