With a trip to the NJCAA World Series on the line, the Raiders host the best-of- three series and will have a doubleheader at noon and 2 p.m. Sunday, and will play Monday if necessary.
With construction ongoing throughout the spring, Three Rivers played all home games at McLane Park. After winning the Region XVI championship on May 8, Three Rivers coach Jeff Null soon called Three Rivers President Dr. Wesley Payne and asked if they could get Rains Field ready by May 16. Payne said no promises, but they would see.
The following day, decision makers were out on the field and thought they could get it done.
“It’s been all hands on deck just to play here,” Null said. “It has turned out nice. It’s looking good.”
The concessions stand will be open, T-shirts will be for sale, former Voice of the Raiders Roger Burton will be the PA announcer, and current Voice of the
Raiders Tim Hager will be audio broadcasting the game through the college website.
College maintenance workers chipped in, the Poplar Bluff Parks Department brought over extra bleachers for the anticipated crowd, additional construction workers helped, custodians got the bathrooms ready.
Even the Raiders got to work.
“Every day, I think we spent half our time practic- ing and the other half doing jobs,” Null said. “It has been every day. We make up our practice list, and then we make our to do list. We’re about there. We’ve got to tidy up a few things today, cleaning wise and practice wise.”
The Raiders spent Thursday getting the bullpen area ready. The old visitor’s bullpen along the third-base line was removed during construction. So both teams will use the double bullpen near the home dugout.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s the best case for our scenario,” said Null, adding the team has spent time this week preparing the field, power washing the sidewalks, moving bleachers, mowing, weed eating, picking up and hauling trash, and will spend time Saturday preparing the field.
Crews also had to finish the dugouts, install electricity and water, and put up protective nets, among other things.
Other changes to Rains Field include a new concessions stand behind the home dugout. Still to be finished are LED lights along the sidewalk from the softball to the also being renovated baseball field. The upper parking lot by the clubhouse will be paved. Sod will be put down along the fence lines, which have been moved back.
Foul territory is now 3 feet bigger, including behind home plate. The old public address building behind home plate has been removed, as has the wooden backstop and chain link fence. The only thing behind the catcher is a large net. Consequently, the ball bounces softer and different than before.
“Passed balls are going to be a run with a runner on third,” Null said. “It comes off that net a little different than the chain link and board wall we had back there. So we’ve been playing with that.”
While the new look doesn’t seem to affect pitch- ers very much, the fielders have said the ball is harder to pick up off the bat, and judging fly balls is different.
The farther into the out- field you get, the more the net blends into the background, creating an optical illusion where everything looks big and wide open.
“It’s been hectic. I’ll be glad when the game gets here,” Null said. “We wanted it to be the best environment possible, It’ ll be doubly exciting, I think, for (the Raiders).”
INDIAN HILLS
Three Rivers (40-4) and Indian Hills (41-11) have put up similar numbers offensively this season.
The Raiders average 9.5 runs per game, and Indian Hills averages 9.2. Both are batting around .390 as a team, have nearly identical on-base percentages, and hit from the top of the lineup to the bottom.
Three Rivers has a slightly higher slugging percentage and has hit 111 home runs compared to 74 by Indian Hills.
Lauren Joyner is one home run shy of the Three Rivers single-season record of 21, set in 2018 by Allison Pingel. Brianna Everett has 16 home runs, Kyla Puckett has 15 and Jaime Lee has 14.
Three Rivers pitchers are also eighth in the nation in opponents’ batting average (.236), while Indian Hills is 27th (.279).
“It’ll be who’s pitching can throw some zeros up on the board,” Null said. “I’m hoping (our region) helped prepare us.”
Indian Hills’ Malarie Huseman (15-5) has a 4.44 ERA with 6.90 strikeouts per seven innings. Margot van Eijl (13-1) has a 3.86 ERA and 9.55 strikeouts per seven innings. Van Eijl has also given up 24 home runs in 107 innings, while Huseman has allowed 18 in 134 innings.
The Raiders will go with Kindi Puckett and Makale Floyd in the circle.
Puckett (21-2) has a 1.67 ERA and 9.11 strikeouts per seven innings. Floyd (9-1), who has thrown 63 1/3 innings after earning the No. 2 starter spot in early April, has a 2.28 ERA and 8.27 strikeouts per seven innings.
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic