The DMACC baseball team started up a conference play this week with a series against Southeastern Community College and Iowa Lakes Community College. After coming home from trips to Texas and Oklahoma, with a combined record of 4-7 the Bears looked to get back on track for conference play. After dropping the conference opener against Southeastern on March 21st, 1-3, they came back on Wednesday the 24th with a sweep of the Iowa Lakes squad 2-0. It was a good day for the Bears on Wednesday as they outscored the Lakers 20-7 in the series led by Kaleb Harrison, a sophomore from Neola, IA, with a team high 6 RBIs throughout the day.
As the start of the season has been anything but normal, because of COVID restrictions and rough weather, the Bears have been fighting through it. Sitting in seventh place in the conference at 3-3 in conference play.
Freshman 1B/DH Brett Berg was optimistic looking at how the season has been so far..
“We have been improving since that first weekend,” he said. “We are not where we want to be yet, but that will come with more practice and preparation as the season goes on.” The path to the postseason this year is not easy as there are two nationally ranked teams and a many high win teams in the conference.
Berg’s outlook on the season was highly confident looking at the schedule ahead of them.
“We are going to come with a goal of getting better each and every day and come tournament time be at the top of our game,” he said. With a load of games yet to play DMACC looks to keep climbing the polls not only in the conference standings but also the national rankings.
Some players to watch this year are Jackson Fisher, a COVID freshman catcher from Chariton, Iowa, along with freshman pitcher Jacob Draerger from Johnston, Iowa. Fisher is second on the team in batting average with a .345, as well as tied for first in home runs with two. A lot of pop on the bat with a solid batting average can be a dangerous duo for opposing pitchers. Add Fisher’s defensive strength as well, and he can hurt the opponents on defence as well. Draeger is 1-1 this year with an ERA of 5.93 going against top notch competition. With his arm strength only getting better, he has the tools to develop into a first-class pitcher for the Bears.
The Bears continue their season start against NIACC in a four-game series this weekend in Mason City.