MRAC baseball: Theeler delivers in Black Raiders doubleheader sweep over Warriors (2024)

SERGEANT BLUFF — A close opening game of a double header between the Sioux City East and Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School baseball teams turned into a one-sided cruise for the Black Raiders who took advantage of the Warriors infield mistakes.

In a pair of games that were moved up to Tuesday afternoon due to weather, the Black Raiders leaned on the powerful two-way abilities of junior Jax Theeler and the rest of their talented bats to sweep the Warriors 4-1 and 10-0, at Sergeant Bluff-Luton Elementary School in a Missouri River Activities Conference doubleheader.

Theeler dueled with SB-L junior Tanner Kleene on the mound in Game 1, which saw the pitchers trade shutout innings back-and-forth through the first five innings. While each gave up several walks throughout the game, by the end of the fifth inning Theeler and Kleene had each given up just two hits.

The combined shutout ended in the top of the sixth inning when a hit from Chris Ford bounced off the glove of a Warrior infielder which allowed Bohdy Colling to put East on the board. An infield single from freshmen Frankie Stoos and a walk to junior Dane Milton in the following at bats loaded the bases, and the second infield error of the inning by the Warriors allowed two runs to score.

The Black Raiders continued to ride the trustworthy arm of Theeler in the bottom of the sixth and added an insurance run by Austin Sheppard on a wild pitch in the seventh to make it 4-0.

“I thought we competed really well early and then we just kind of fell apart in one inning,” Sergeant Bluff-Luton head coach Matt Nelson said. “I do not think we are really mentally tough enough to overcome that one bad inning.”

Theeler worked himself and the Black Raiders out of multiple jams during his time on the mound in Game 1 to keep SB-L off the board. The Warriors had two runners on with one out in the fourth and loaded the bases after the game changing sixth inning but were held scoreless in both scenarios.

“It is like he shifts into a different mindset when he gets the bases loaded, he locks in more and all of a sudden is harder to hit,” Sioux City East head coach Trevor Miller said.

While SB-L avoided a shutout in Game 1 on a sac fly to right field by Parker Lutgen in the seventh inning, but relief pitcher Cal Jepsen kept his composure and put the Warriors comeback hopes to bed.

Kleene kept Game 1 close against one of the most powerful hitting teams in the Missouri River Athletic Conference but was not backed up by the rest of the Warriors at the end of the game.

“We got to make plays for [Kleene],” Nelson said. “For us to kind of just give them some runs there at the end of that game I was disappointed for him.”

While Theeler picked up his fifth win on the mound in Game 1, he wasn’t satisfied with his offensive outing. He went 0-for-4 against Kleene, and the road was only set to be harder for him and the Black Raiders who were set to face Bradyen Kerr in Game 2.

“I barreled a lot of balls in the first game right into the wind,” Theeler said. “I needed to make an adjustment and hit some line drives.”

Theeler tested his adjustment on the first pitches he saw in Game 2 and smacked two solo home runs in the first and third inning. This marked the third game in the last seven games where Theeler had two home runs, bringing him to seven on the year.

“Starting to feel like myself and seeing it really well right now,” Theeler said.

Those hits sparked confidence in the rest of the Black Raiders, who continued to pile on the offense with some help from more Warriors’ mistakes.

In the fourth inning, Sioux City East tacked on six runs on three errors, a sacrifice fly from sophom*ore Cal Jepsen and a pair of wild pitches from Kerr. The Black Raiders stayed locked in from Game 1 and trusted that they would find a way to get the offense going.

“We just continue to put pressure on teams and see what happens and that ended up sealing the deal for us,” Miller said.

A fielder’s choice on a hit from Jepsen and another error in the sixth inning which allowed Colling to score put the Black Raiders up 10-0 and ended the game early as the Warriors failed to answer.

Under the circ*mstances that Sioux City East (18-7, 16-4 MRAC) dealt with to get the games in Tuesday, it sums up what its season has been like. While the Black Raiders has won six of their last seven games, before then they had lost four straight.

“Our season has kind of been like this just a lot of adversity,” Theeler said. “Something we pride ourselves on is being flexible and flowing.”

For SB-L, who now dip under .500 at 11-12 and 10-10 in the MRAC, the team is in the middle of one of its toughest parts of the season having to play doubleheaders against the top three teams in the conference. While Nelson wishes the team would be in a better spot near the middle of the season, he also knows that this is all a part of the prosses of building this senior-less squad.

“Progress for anybody is not a step by step,” Nelson said. “You have step backs, you have downfalls and our league is tough.”