Reis fans eight, Storm stay alive in IIAC Tournament

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Gage Reis had a career outing on the mound, Jake Barr had three hits and the Simpson baseball team avoided elimination with a 4-2 win over Coe in the Iowa Conference Tournament on Friday.

Reis (4-5) struck out a career-high eight batters in the complete-game effort as the fifth-seeded Storm (21-21) advance to play second-seeded Wartburg in another elimination game at 4 p.m.

Simpson trailed 2-1 in the fourth before Jake Esdohr drove in his second run of the game on a groundout to tie it 2-2. Barr came in to score the go-ahead run later in the inning when Bud Smith reached on a Coe error with two outs.

Barr finished 3-for-3 with a double, scoring three times and laying down two bunt singles. Esdohr had two RBIs and Smith drove in a run.

Michael Redmond had two hits for the sixth-seeded Kohawks (15-24), who were eliminated with the loss.