Seven Roland-Story baseball players named all-HOIC: Three Norse make the first team
The Roland-Story baseball team was well-represented in the 2022 all-Heart of Iowa Conference selections.
The Norsemen had seven players honored by the conference coaches after winning the HOIC title with a 13-1 conference record.
Three Roland-Story players were named to the first team. Alex Berends, Thomas Matthes and Dillon Lettow were the three Norsemen chosen.
Berends went 6-2 with an outstanding 0.77 ERA, 90 strikeouts and 13 walks in 63 2/3 innings of work on the mound for Roland-Story during his senior season. He also hit .311 with three doubles, one home run and 16 RBIs.
Matthes posted a 7-2 pitching record with a 1.29 ERA, 69 strikeouts and 15 walks in 48 2/3 innings during his senior campaign. On offense he hit .400 with 13 doubles, one triple, three homers and 28 RBIs.
Lettow recorded a .343 batting average with three doubles, two triples, 19 runs and 14 RBIs during his junior season. In the outfield Lettow went without an error in 25 chances and he had two assists.
The other all-HOIC first-team selections were West Marshall's Owen Siegert, Kinnick Christensen and Clay Cuva, Greene County's Brayden Roberts and Bryce Stalder, Saydel's Jayden Cordova and Mason Hicks, Nevada's Gavin Melohn, Prairie City-Monroe's Gavin Fenton and South Hamilton's Tanner Blue.
Landing on the all-HOIC second team from Roland-Story were senior catcher Matthew Phelan and senior outfielder Carter Loof.
Phelan hit .347 with six doubles, one triple, 33 runs, 20 steals and 14 RBIs. Behind the plate Phelan only had three errors in 218 chances and he threw out five base runners.
Loof recorded a .254 batting average with three doubles, one triple, 25 runs and 24 steals. In the outfield he only made one error in 32 chances.
The rest of the all-HOIC team was made up of Nevada's Cael Franzen, Karter Beving and William Carsrud, Perry's Carter Iben, Saydel's Judd Roberts and Jace Embry, West Marshall's Parker Reese and Tony McKinney and Greene County's Justin Stream and Joe Carey.
Junior Cooper Loof and senior Tyler Isebrands were the two Norsemen named honorable mention.
Cooper Loof hit .267 with four doubles, 15 runs, 10 RBIs and nine steals. In the infield he made 31 assists, 27 putouts and only five errors.
Isebrands went without an error in 12 chances defensively. He also scored four runs and stole three bases and was a tremendous senior leader.
Final RRC standings
Roland-Story 13-1
West Marshall 12-2
Saydel 8-6
PCM 8-6
Nevada 6-8
Greene County 5-8
South Hamilton 2-12
Perry 1-13
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Seven Roland-Story baseball players named all-HOIC
