Raiders begin baseball season Friday

The Three Rivers College baseball team will have a solid core of players from a successful 2024 campaign to build around when the Raiders open this season on Friday with a doubleheader against North Iowa Area at Roger Pattillo Field.

Three Rivers finished 33-23, its best season in many years, and will be led this season on the mound by returning all-region hurler Colton Sims, who will start Friday's opener. Sims was tied for the team lead in victories with five last season and had a team high 71 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings.

Freshman Ethan Wolf will start Friday's nightcap.

“We will have a lot of guys who can fill multiple roles and should throw a lot of innings,” TRC baseball coach Tyler Smith said. “Hayden Alexander, Eddie Ahearn, Tyler Vincent, Drew Lenehan and Caden Crask should all fight to see weekend starts throughout the year. Aaron Fitch, Weston Speir, Logan McNamara, Aaron Fitch, Noah Pruitt should give us really good options to go to out of the bullpen late.”

Also back for the Raiders is all-defensive team catcher Trey Fikes, who also hit .359 and was second on the team with 47 RBIs; Manny Alberto, a .349 hitter who stole 17 bases and had an OPS north of .970; and Grant Fitch, who batted .376 last spring while driving in 25 runs and stealing 10 bases

“Manny Alberto will move over to shortstop with Peyton Nelson graduating,” Smith said. “Trey Fikes will catch, while Grant Fitch will be in one of the outfield spots. The rest is going to be interesting to see who wins the jobs.”

After playing North Iowa Area on Friday, TRC is slated to host Shawnee on Tuesday and then will take on Rock Valley from Illinois next weekend. The Raiders begin Region XVI play with a series against Metropolitan from Kansas City that begins at the end of the month.

Even with a good core back, Smith knows improving on last season won't be easy.

“We’re going to have to play a really good brand of baseball,” Smith said. We have a good amount of pitching depth but our whole mantra has been (to) chase strikes. If we are in the zone, we will be successful. Roger Pattillo Field is a great pitchers park and strikes will generally give you a chance to win.

“Offensively, we are going to have to be creative to score runs. We were able to rely on the home run a little bit last spring, but this year we are going to have to limit our strikeouts and wear pitchers down with our at-bats.”