Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – After a road loss at Durant snapped a 12-game winning streak for Regina on Wednesday the third-ranked Regals found themselves in an unfamiliar situation on Thursday against Tipton searching for a bounce back win.

The Regals wasted little time getting back on track.

Junior Calvin Dillon tossed a complete game and Regina scored eight runs in its final three trips to the plate in a 9-2 win over Tipton in Iowa City.

“It was a bad taste in our mouth last night but sometimes losses are good and you refocus,” Regina coach Mark Roering said. “It was a great example of how the end of the season can happen that quick so we have to be dialed in. We have to get ready for playoffs.”

Class 2A third-ranked Regina improved to 21-2 with the win and 15-1 in RVC play while completing a three-game regular season sweep of Tipton.

The Regals outscored Tipton 34-6 in a doubleheader sweep of the Tigers on Monday in Tipton.

After sustaining its first RVC loss of the season at Durant on Wednesday the Regals found their offensive rhythm late on Thursday to get back in the win column.

“I trust this team,” Regina sophomore Zachary Poe said. “We always battle back, it’s a great group of guys and we trust each other.”

It wasn’t always easy for Regina on Thursday.

Tipton (7-15, 4-14 RVC) took a 2-1 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning but Regina immediately answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Junior shortstop Jaydon Leonard had the big hit in the four-run Regal fourth, a two-run double down the right field line.

“As a team we handle pressure really well,” Leonard said. “When we are down I feel like that’s when we lock it in. When the pressure is on we know the team has our back and we are still up and our team is still rolling.”

Poe doubled in the four-run fourth inning and junior catcher Kaleb Moeller added a single.

“We had to get rolling and put the ball in play and make a move,” Poe said. “We just executed.”

Regina added a run in the fifth and plated three more in the sixth.

Trey Streb and Emmett Burke singled in the three-run sixth and Carter Carolan had a sacrifice fly.

Six different Regals had hits on Thursday led by Moeller, Leonard, Burke and Streb with two hits each.

Six different Regina players scored runs led by Burke who scored three times and Leonard who scored twice.

“We were a little sluggish in the beginning, we were in a 2-1 game and we were hitting a lot of balls right at them kind of like we did last night,” Roerig said. “They are a very confident group and I feel like our lineup one through nine is pretty tough and every night it is generally someone different and so that’s kind of nice. We started stroking the ball a little bit and we found a way to win.”

The nine runs were more than enough support for Dillon.

The junior right-hander improved to 4-0 on the season allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out two and walking two in the complete game win.

“He struggled all night with his curveball and changeup, he was trying all night to find them and I told him even if you don’t have it you have to show it so they can’t just sit on fastballs,” Roerig said. “He did a good job of filling it up and we have a good defense that made a lot of plays for him. It was a good outing for him.”

Tipton                       000  200  0  –  2   9   3

Regina                       100  413  x  –  9  10  2

W – Calvin Dillon

2B – ICR: Jaydon Leonard, Will Litton, Zachary Poe

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