The KCII Area Game of the Week takes its first look at South Iowa Cedar baseball tonight, when the Keota Eagles welcome Montezuma.

Keota dropped three games in a row following a season-opening win, but have since rattled off two straight to get back to .500. A 14-10 win over New London last night came on the heels of an 11-2 victory against English Valleys Wednesday. Blake Baker kept the Bears in check, tossing five innings on the mound and striking out five. Tanner Waterhouse provided some heavy lifting, driving in three runs and scoring three times. The Eagles have a team average of .264, OBP of .350, and are slugging .368. 38 hits have driven in 31 runs, while Keota has struck out 31 times to just 13 walks. Already seeing multiple pitching appearances from Cole Kindred, Billie Kindred, Baker, and Waterhouse, the Eagles have allowed 27 total runs in 34 innings with a 3.29 ERA.

A rough start for the Braves has them 0-4 and at the bottom of the SICL. Outscored 40-12 in those games, Montezuma has dropped to Colfax-Mingo, North Mahaska, Lynnville-Sully, and most recently BGM. Hitting .208 as a team with an on-base percentage of .286, the Braves have twice as many strikeouts as hits so far with six runs batted in. A pitching staff with an ERA of 4.44 has not had much help from the defense, which is averaging more than five errors per game. Some standouts have been senior Cruz DeJong hitting .333 with a home run, and eighth-grader Gavin Wilcox who’s racked up a .455 average to lead Montezuma.

The Braves have the overall advantage in this series since 2007, edging out Keota last season 2-1. Before then, the Eagles had won seven in a row. Catch the action tonight on the KCII3 Stream found on KCIIRadio.com. The Roder Epoxy Pregame Show begins at 5, with first pitch from Keota at 5:30.