Mo Valley BB Wins Wild One Over IKM-Manning, 20-8

Missouri Valley's Noah Cox & Maddox Wheeldon (6-16-26)

Mo Valley BB Wins Wild One Over IKM-Manning, 20-8 –

(6-16-26) – It was… a wild and crazy night!

After trailing early, Missouri Valley baseball battled back, then exploded offensively, using a 10-run 4th to beat IKM-Manning, 20-8, Tuesday.

The Big Reds Maddox Wheeldon’s 3-run homer would end the game in the 6th. Wheeldon said advice from someone close to him helped with his walk-off blast.

“My grandpa was just standing behind the fence before I went up in the on-deck circle and he was just telling me, get that top half of the ball because I've been hitting under everything,” Wheeldon told KNOD Sports after his only hit of the contest. “Every hit I think I popped up tonight and I really just went up there to attack and get a base hit because we had a runner on third and just walk it off and found my pitch and drove it over the fence.”

The Wolves jumped out to an early lead, getting 4 runs in the 1st without the benefit of a hit. But the Big Reds answered right back with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. IKM-Manning would have three leads of 3 runs or more in the game.

That was until the bottom of the 4th.

Missouri Valley would send nine batters to the plate before the first out of the inning was recorded. When it was over, the Big Reds turned a 3-run deficit into a 7-run lead.

Noah Cox pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, striking out 4 to get the win. Cox was confident in his teammates to help support him while he was on the mound.

“I knew I just had to go out there and pump strikes, and my team would back me up.”

The win was much needed by the Big Reds, who’ve struggled this season. Cox hopes this is a sign of a turnaround for him and his teammates.

“We had a whole bunch of other close games where we just, we’d make an error and we’d snowball and now we're working on when we make an error, just pick each other up and keep playing through it.”

Cox and Owen Gute each had three hits and three RBI as Missouri Valley sweeps the season series with IKM-Manning… their final as conference opponents.

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