Luke Byers pitched a gem on the mound as the Indianola baseball team defeated Grinnell 6-1 in an efficient contest heard live on 94.3 KNIA, while the Indians softball team won 2-1 over the Tigers in a pitchers duel.

The Indians scored in the first on a Dana Blake walk, steal, and scored on an error, then scored another run to lead 2-0 after Tessa Gripp was hit by a pitch, then stole second and scored on another Grinnell error. The normally potent Indians bats were quiet against a tough pitcher, but Izzy Sloan earned the win in the circle giving up only one run in the seventh. They improve to 12-2 overall and 4-0 in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

The baseball team saw Byers only allow one hit through his 5 ⅓ innings pitched and spotted him a 4-0 lead in the first inning, getting an RBI groundout from Bennett Brueck, and an RBI infield hit from Andrew DeWall, then scoring two more on an error. The Indians added two more in the fourth, scoring on a fielder’s choice and another RBI hit from DeWall to lead 6-0. Brueck came on in relief as the Tigers attempted to rally, but shut down the threat immediately to secure the win. DeWall went 2-3 at the plate, while Byers only allowed three hits on the mound.

Head coach Jon Fitzpatrick tells KNIA Sports Byers work in the offseason going into his junior year was what made him ready to work, and will be a big asset to the team.

“Throughout the offseason we thought we had something pretty special with him. I think he threw one JV start and we definitely knew he was ready, and he has given us two great starts since then. Just nice to have a guy like that in our conference rotation, and I look forward to more starts by him.”

The Indians improve to 12-6 overall and 4-2 in conference, and have won six in a row. Both teams host a conference doubleheader with Dallas Center-Grimes tomorrow.