WATERLOO – The NIACC baseball team plays Iowa Central at 7 p.m. Thursday in the opening round of the NJCAA Region XI tournament at Riverfont Stadium.
NIACC (22-29 overall, 10-18 in the ICCAC) is the sixth seed in the double-elimination tournament, which is held at Riverfront Stadium. Iowa Central (36-17, 19-9) enters the tournament as the third seed.
Iowa Central won the season series against NIACC, 3-1. The Tritons won 10-0 in six innings and NIACC won 2-0 on March 29 and the Tritons won 10-0 in five innings and 4-3 on March 30.
The winner of Thursday’s game plays either second-seeded Southeastern or seventh-seeded Iowa Lakes at 7 p.m. on Friday. The loser of the NIACC/Iowa Central game plays the Southeastern/Iowa Lakes loser at 1 p.m. Friday.
Trojan tidbits: Sophomore Brett Guba is batting .335 with 16 doubles and 21 RBIs … Guba has a career batting average of .348 (94 of 270) … Guba has 25 career doubles, which ranks tied for 10th on the school’s all-time list … Freshman Ryan Moran is hitting .329 with 9 doubles, 5 home runs and a team-best 30 RBIs … Freshman Daniel Bradley is hitting .323 with 13 doubles, 4 home runs and 24 RBIs … Sophomore Nick Veale is 5-4 with a 4.26 earned run average with 59 strikeouts and 25 walks.
Climbing the charts: Veale ranks second on NIACC’s all-time win list with 12 …. He also ranks third in career innings pitched (116 1/3), tied for third in career complete games (5) and fourth in career strikeouts (100) … He ranks third in single-season innings pitched (67 2/3), fourth in single-season complete games (4) and fifth in single-season strikeouts (59).
NIACC’s leaders
Hitting
Average – Brett Guba .335; Ryan Moran .329; Daniel Bradley .323. Doubles – Guba 16; Bradley 13; Moran 9. Triples – Guba 2; Home runs – Moran 5; Bradley 4; Zach Fricke 4. RBIs – Moran 30; Fricke 25; Bradley 24. Runs scored – Guba 35; Bradley 30; Fricke 28. Stolen bases – Jake Adams 9; Guba 7; Bradley 5.
Pitching
Wins – Nick Veale 5-4; Casey Hall 4-3. ERA (At least 25 innings pitched) – Veale 4.26; Davis Bryan 4.61; Hall 4.75. Strikeouts – Veale 59; Quinn Ahern 48; Vincent Berrones 34.
Iowa Central’s leaders
Hitting
Average – Andy DeJesus .392; Damian Rutherford .378; Tanner Buenting .359. Doubles – Nate Steger 18; Rutherford 16; DeJesus 12; Jason Galeano 12. Triples – DeJesus 5; Buenting 2. Home runs – Rutherford 7; Galeano 6; Tyler Franko 4. RBIs – Rutherford 52; DeJesus 38; Buenting 29. Runs scored – Buenting 55; DeJesus 48; Rutherford 42. Stolen bases – Buenting 10; DeJesus 9; Rutherford 6.
Pitching
Wins – Alex Hayden 8-1; Ryan Boelter 6-2. ERA (At least 25 innings pitched) – Luke Vandermaten 1.39; Boelter 2.95; Hayden 4.26. Strikeouts – Boelter 61; Hayden 54. Saves – Vandermaten 11.
Thursday’s games
10 a.m. – (4) Kirkwood (29-16, 13-11) vs. (5) Ellsworth (22-28, 14-12).
1 p.m. – (1) DMACC (36-16, 21-7) vs. (8) Southwestern (6-33, 3-25).
4 p.m. – (2) Southeastern (36-18, 19-7) vs. (7) Iowa Lakes (19-21, 7-17).
7 p.m. – (3) Iowa Central (36-17, 19-9) vs. (6) NIACC (22-29, 10-18).
