(Bedford) — Mount Ayr baseball picked up a come-from-behind 3-2 district semifinal win over Bedford on Tuesday.

The Raiders (17-4) were held scoreless by Bedford (23-6) until the top of the sixth when the bats came alive. Mount Ayr recorded four hits in that inning while scoring all three of their runs.

“With a good pitcher, you have got to take your single,” Mount Ayr head baseball coach Chris Piperno tells KMA. “You have got to crawl before you walk, before you sprint. We were sprinting, so we simplified the approach. Take our base hits, cause chaos on the bases, and score runs.”

Sophomore Adler Reed started things for the Raiders in the top of the sixth by getting on base with a single.

“I just needed to get on somehow, and I know I can steal the bases,” Reed said. “I tried to get around as best as I could, and one of my teammates hit me in.”

Sophomore Hayes Stogdill drove in Reed for the first run of the game for the Raiders on an RBI single. Junior Tate Dugan drove in Stogdill on an RBI single. The go-ahead run came across there in the sixth as Dugan was hit in by sophomore Drew Graham, giving Mount Ayr the lead.

“It was a battle,” Piperno said. “That’s what playoff baseball’s all about, came down to every single pitch. Last pitch, three one count, had to make a pitch. We had to make plays; we had adversity. That’s playoff baseball. It was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing it again.”

Reed and Stogdill both had two hits for Mount Ayr. Dugan, Graham, Avery Wolfe, Tyler Still, and Trevin Victor all had a single each in the win.

Adler Reed got the start for Mount Ayr on the mound, throwing six complete innings. The sophomore gave up two runs on just three hits while striking out four batters.

“I trusted my defense and did what I needed to do to get it done,” Reed said.

“The guy competed,” Piperno said. He fell behind. He got ahead. He did everything he could in his power to just battle for his teammates. And that’s all we asked for.”

Senior Trevin Victor came in and closed out the final inning for the Raiders. Even after Bedford was able to load the bases, Victor and the Mount Ayr defense were able to close the game out for a win.

“I just knew that our defense was going to make plays,” Victor said. “It couldn’t have started any worse, but I knew once I started throwing strikes, it would’ve been hard for them to score and take the lead.”

“He’s our senior. He’s our one senior we got,” Piperno said. “I told him, hey dude, we’re going to ride you. You’re going to go close this out and send us to the next round.”

Bedford was led at the plate by senior Klemit Olney, who had a two-RBI double to score the Bulldogs’ only two runs of the ball game.

On Saturday, Mount Ayr will head to Lenox to take on the Tigers (19-9) in a Class 1A District 14 Final.

“Another good ball club,” Piperno said. “We played them twice this year. We beat them twice, but as we all know, that means absolutely nothing. Another opportunity to go see how good we can play baseball.  Go attack. Go be aggressive. Go play our game.”

Full interviews with Reed, Victor, and head coach Piperno are below.

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