Smith homers twice in 10-6 win, Storm stay alive at IIAC Tourney

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Bud Smith continued his tear at the Iowa Conference Tournament with two home runs and the Simpson baseball team scored 10 runs in the sixth and seventh innings to beat Dubuque 10-6 on Friday morning.

Smith hit a three run shot in Simpson's six-run sixth inning and added a two-run bomb in a four-run seventh as the Storm (14-28) staved off elimination. Simpson – the No. 6 seed – advances to play No. 2 seed Buena Vista on Friday afternoon. Start time is set for 4 p.m., though rain delays are expcted earlier in the day.

A senior catcher, Smith finished 2-for-5 with five RBIs in the game and is now 7-for-11 with a double, two home runs and 10 RBIs in two games at Veterans Memorial Stadium. His first home run was a line shot to left and his second was a towering blast that cleared the left field deck at the home of the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Simpson trailed 4-0 before Smith's three-run homer. Trent Dooley drove in the go-ahead run on a two-RBI double and Luke Anctil added a run-scoring single to make it 6-4. Dooley drove in another run on a single in the seventh and Taylor Harmon hit a sacrifice fly to make it 10-4.

Trevor Dudar (3-5) had a solid outing, allowing four runs off six hits in five innings. Jalen Sickels struck out three in 3 1/3 innings of relief and Tyler Englehardt recorded the final two outs with the bases loaded for the save.

Dalton Garst went 3-for-5  and Thomas Kempf drove in two for the Spartans (19-23), who were eliminated.