Keota baseball ran into a Montezuma team Friday with something to prove, as the Eagles fell at home 15-8.

In a game heard on the KCII3 Stream, spirits were high early on, as Tanner Waterhouse and Cole Kindred led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back hits. They would both go on to score, giving Keota a 2-0 lead they would take into the third. It was then that the Montezuma bats would finally get to Eagle pitcher Billie Kindred. The Braves plated four runs on two hits to jump ahead. Kindred would finish the night giving up just those four runs on three hits, striking out six, but walking and hitting three.

The game would remain 4-2 through the fourth, as Garrett Watts settled in for Montezuma. The senior right-hander allowed just five hits and three runs after the first inning, finishing six overall. Despite the Eagles adding a run in the fifth to cut the deficit to one, things slipped away next frame. After getting the first out of the inning behind new pitcher Jacob Libe, the Eagles saw eleven straight Braves reach safely. When the dust settled, Montezuma led by 11. A late three-run home run from Cole Kindred staved off the run rule, but the Braves’ Isaac Wedgewood closed out the contest in the seventh. Kindred led the Keota bats, going 3-4 with three knocked in, also scoring three times.

Keota drops back below .500 on the season at 3-4. The Eagles are off from games this weekend before heading to North Mahaska on Monday.