Tigers Collect Two RVC Victories, Record at 3-0

By Ryan Stonebraker

Sports Editor

TIPTON — The Tipton baseball team has reached some rare air with their start to the 2018 baseball season. The Tiger’s record sits at 3-0 after two weeks of the season after winning River Valley Conference games at Northeast and home against Bellevue last week. A 3-0 start is something that doesn’t happen often. The last Tipton team to win over 10 games was the 2016 team that went 16 and 16. That team, however, started with four losses to RVC South foes Iowa City Regina and Wilton.

The Tigers are not near the top of many stat categories in the RVC South, but the two that they are, are really important. Tipton leads the RVC South in on-base percentage as a team (.495). The Tigers have three players in the top-15 leaders for on-base percentage in the South Division. The Tigers also lead the RVC South in stolen bases with 18 in only three games. Three Tigers are in the top-10 to date in stolen bases leaders in the South Division.

The Tigers beat Northeast 6-2 last Tuesday in Goose Lake. The win was the first over the Rebels ever since the RVC started in 2014. The Tigers were 0-4 and were outscored 35 to 6 in the first four meetings before last weeks win.

An RBI by Luke Becker in the first inning gave Tipton a 1-0 lead. The Tigers would not trail in the ball game. Tipton took a 2-0 lead with a run in the top of the third. Northeast cut the Tiger lead to 2-1 after three innings. That score stood until Tipton pushed a run across the plate in the fifth to set the score at 3-1. Northeast responded with a run in their half of the fifth to put the score at 3-2.

That score was the same when the Tigers scored three runs in the top of the seventh to take control of the game. Tipton sent seven batters to the plate in the inning. Quinten Mesick walked and went to second on a Trent Pelzer groundout. Mesick scored on a double by Logan Hoffman to set the score at 4-2. Later, Hoffman and Dylan Mente, who reached base via a walk, scored on a two-run single by Ben Emrich to give Tipton a 6-2 lead.

Hoffman pitched a complete game, 7-inning game and struck out ten Rebel batters. He gave up five hits and two runs. Tipton had eight hits in the game by seven different players. Trent Pelzer led the way with a 2-for-4 night.

Two nights later, Tipton hosted Bellevue for their second straight RVC North contest. There, Tipton used two three-run innings in the middle of the game to take control in a 6-3 victory. The Tigers have scored six runs in each of their first three games, all wins.

Luke Becker pitched a complete game and saw his ERA drop to 2.33 while improving to 2-0 this season in 12 innings pitched. Becker struck out five and walked one.

Tipton fell behind early 3-0 but tied the game at 3-3 with a three-run fourth inning. Back-to-back RBI singles by Kael Jauron, Bryce Deerberg and another RBI single in the inning by Quinten Mesick accounted for the three runs.

Tipton took the lead for good with a three-run bottom of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. Dylan Mente was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and stole home beating the tag on a close play, to give Tipton a 4-3 lead. Tipton would score two more runs in the inning and Jauron and Colby Kleppe singled in the inning.

Becker got into trouble in the top of the sixth, allowing Bellevue to get a runner to second base and again in the top of the seventh, allowing a runner to get to third base. However, neither run scored and the Tigers took the victory.

Tipton had a season-high to date, 10 hits in the game with four Tigers having multi-hit games. Mesick, Pelzer, Mente, and Jauron all had two hits. Pelzer and Kleppe each had 2 RBI’s.

The Tigers have six games this week, mostly at home. Monday, the Tigers hosted Mid-Prairie in an RVC doubleheader. Camanche plays at Tipton Tuesday, June 5. Tipton then goes to Monticello for a JV/V doubleheader Thursday and to the University of Iowa Friday to play Iowa City-Liberty High School. The following week, the Tigers play three class 2A, top-10 teams at Iowa City Regina on Tuesday the 12th and at Cascade on June 14. The Tigers will host Wilton on Friday, June 15 in a make-up game from an earlier postponement.




Tipton 6, Northeast 2

Tuesday, May 29

At Goose Lake

TIP 101 010 3 - 6

NE 001 010 0 - 2




1b (6) - Trent Pelzer 2, Quinten Mesick, Luke Becker, Ben Emrich, Nile Schuett. 2b (2) - Dylan Mente, Logan Hoffman. RBI (5) - Ben Emrich 2, Luke Becker, Dylan Mente, Logan Hoffman. SB (5) - Quinten Mesick 2, Trent Pelzer, Bryce Deerberg, Nile Schuett. BB (7) - Nile Schuett 2, Dylan Mente 2, Quinten Mesick, Luke Becker, Bryce Deerberg.

Pitching - Logan Hoffman - 7 IP, 104 pitches thrown, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 10 strikeouts, 2 walks.




Tipton 6, Bellevue 3

Thursday, May 31

At Tipton

B 100 200 0 - 3

TIP 000 330 0 - 6




1b (9) - Quinten Mesich 2, Dylan Mente 2, Kael Jauron 2, Trent Pelzer, Bryce Deerberg, Colby Kleppe. 2b (1) - Trent Pelzer. RBI (5) - Colby Kleppe 2, Trent Pelzer 2, Logan Hoffman. SB (6) - Kael Jauron 2, Dylan Mente 2, Trent Pelzer 1, Ben Emrich 1. BB (5) - Logan Hoffman 3, Kael Jauron, Bryce Deerberg.



Pitching - Luke Becker - 7 IP, 102 pitches thrown, 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk.