The Iowa Central baseball team is playing without several key pieces at the moment.

That caught up to them here on Sunday, as the Tritons were swept by Iowa Western, 12-1 and 16-6.

"We're without some of our best hitters and best pitchers right now," Iowa Central head coach Eric Stein said. "We've got guys playing that are being put into situations that we need them to step up and contribute. It's all part of the game and how it goes at times, but I expect us to be much, much better than we were (on Sunday)."

The Reivers took advantage of all of it, capitalizing on walked batters and errors in the field. They won all four games over the weekend, scoring 43 runs. 

In the opener, Derek Kay had the lone base hit off Evan O'Toole with Travis Rittenhouse driving him in on a sacrifice fly. Jake Swanson picked up three strikeouts in relief on the mound.

The Tritons battled in the second game, scoring three times in the seventh and twice more in the eighth. Noah Susong, Jack Sievers, Max Holy and Brock Johnson all had an RBI with Alex Walsh going 2-for-2 with two runs scored at the plate.

"We've got to do a better job of competing out there," Stein said. "You fail in baseball so many times, but how you battle back and continue to push forward is what determines how far you go."

Iowa Central returns to action Wednesday, heading to Norfolk, Neb. to play Northeast.

-By Dana Becker