Keota Soars to Second Round with 4-1 Win Over Danville

KEOTA—On July 6, the Keota Eagles opened up their postseason play with a home matchup against the Danville Bears. The Eagles soared past the Bears by a final score of 4-1.

The Eagles started the scoring in the third innings with an RBI single from senior Tanner Waterhouse to bring home senior Chase Sieren from third base.

In the same inning, eighth grader Blake Baker smacked a single that brought home senior Cole Kindred home from second base. Baker would tally one more RBI in the bottom of the fifth with a ground-out. He led the Eagles with two RBIs on the night. 

Keota Head Coach Austin Waterhouse described the night from Baker with, “It’s awesome. It is just so nice to see him step up. He is going to get better too, which is amazing.”

Senior Cole Kindred got the start for the Eagles, and finished his day with five innings pitched, one earned run on three hits and seven strikeouts. Eighth grader Blake Baker came in relief with two innings pitched, no earned runs on no hits and three strikeouts.

The pinnable moment for Baker was in the bottom of the seventh. After two runners found their way on base, Baker now faced the tying run at the plate. The count pushed to full, and all the pressure was on the eighth grader to not load the bases. He delivered the final strike to give the Eagles the 4-1, and push them to the second round of the playoffs.

After the game, seniors Cole Kindred, Chase Sieren and Tanner Waterhouse talked about the emotions of winning their final home game as an Eagles.

Kindred started things off with, “Feel pretty good. It was a good game. We started off slow, but started hitting the ball and getting runs.”

Sieren followed up with, “Just like he said, a little rusty. We got back into the groove, scored some runs and cleaned up some errors. We played a good game.”

Lastly, Waterhouse responded with, “We haven’t had a game in a week. Feels good to get back to work and get a win on our home field. Hopefully we can go far in the playoffs.”

This marked the first playoff win for Keota Head Coach Austin Waterhouse. Coach Waterhouse spoke on getting the victory with, “It feels great. There’s a lot of pressure that is off my back now. Now we go to Moravia, and try to get another win.”

The Eagles will head to Moravia high school on July 9 for their second round matchup against the Mohawks.