RECORD SPRING: Raiders baseball won 33 games, best season since 1993

The Three Rivers College baseball team has a lot to smile about finishing its best season in more than 30 years.

The Raiders finished the season with a record of 33-23, their most wins since 1993 and saw a pair of major individual records broken. But more than that, TRC is sending its entire sophomore class on to four-year schools, in part because the team also succeeded in the classroom.

As a team, Three Rivers recorded a 3.37 grade-point average, including 10 players with perfect 4.0 GPAs.

“They were good kids,” Three Rivers coach Tyler Smith said. “We had no issues. I think we’re going to have around 18 or 20 all academic team members on a 45-man roster. Our GPA (was) high again. There were no issues. We would come and get ready to play every day and they would bring it every day.”

As for the records, sophomore slugger Mason Krznarich set the Raiders’ single-season home run record with 14 dingers, breaking a record which had stood for 35 years, while Peyton Nelson broke Three Rivers’ career hit record with 147, a record which had stood since 1992.

“Breaking some records is always fun,” Smith said, “and (so it seeing) guys buy into what we’re trying to do.”

Sims, Nelson and Krznarich were named first-team all-Midwest Community College Athletic Conference, while Sims was named first-team all-Region 16 and Trey Fikes was named to the Region 16 all-defensive team.

Krznarich and Nelson also were named second-team all-Region 16, while Eli Marvin and Hayden Cuthbertson were named second-team all-MCCAC.

“The accolades come with winning, our wins and how well we did stuff,” Smith said. … “That’s we try to preach to all of them — you’ll get wherever you want, as long as we have some team success. (Then) your individual success will come.”

That success has resulted in 15 Raiders heading to four-year schools next season. Krznarich and Nelson are headed to Charleston Southern University, while Steven Henley has signed with Arkansas State Hayden Cuthbertson is going to Miami University in Ohio, Tanner Duncan will play at Southern Illinois and Bryce Stenzel is going to Lindenwood.

Also headed to four-year schools next season are Cooper McClure (Henderson State), K.J. Merriweather (Ecclesia College), Josh McDonald (Southeast Oklahoma State), Stuart Tharle (University of the Cumberlands), Brady Robertson (Missouri-St. Louis), Eli Marvin (Arkansas-Monticello), Justin Graham (United States Sports Academy), Hunter Bell (Savannah State) and Ty Thatcher (College of the Ozarks).

“We’ve got 15 guys total moving forward,” Smith said. “So everybody ... that wanted to play at the four-year level has a four-year offer and has a four-year commitment, which is really, really, really, really nice this early in it and a testament to our success we had throughout the year.”

But the cupboard is far from bare for the Raiders. Sims will return to lead the pitching staff, while Fikes returns after a strong freshman season.

“We’re going be good up the middle. Trey Fikes is coming back, so we’ve got him behind the plate. Manny Alberto is probably going to move to shortstop, so we’re good there. We’ve got Colton Sims and Dorian Lippens coming back, who are a rotation arms force.

“Obviously we’re going to have to add — and hopefully some guys we’ve got coming in will pick up some slack. But to have that core group coming back is really, really nice.”

Those recruits include Logan McNamara, a Canadian hurler who tops 90 miles per hour with his fastball, Springdale (Arkansas) Har-Ber pitcher Caleb Smith, lefthanded pitcher and Kentucky native Hayden Alexander and Greenville graduate Talan McDaniel, plus a pitcher from the Netherlands.