2000 Davenport Assumption Baseball


October 1999 All State Outfielder Russ Reyes signed letter of intent to play at Xavier University.

April 2000 Knights sign with BlackHawk College. 3 of the Daveport Assumption Knights have signed to continue their baseball careers at BlawkHawk Junior College. Out Fielder Chris Ewen, Pitcher's Nick Renkosik and Mike Bitterman will all be attended school at BlawkHawk in the fall

May 22nd Knights split in opener with Rock Island. The Knights began the 2000 campaign with a home double dip with Rock Island, IL. The Knights lost the first game 6-16. Then came back and took the nightcap 19-9. The Rocks finish their regular season 24-8 and the Knights begin 1-1.

May 23rd Knights split with Mt. Pleasant. The Knights lost the first game despite Joe Ryan's strong pitching peformance. Russ Reyes hit his 2nd HR of the year. Game 2 the Knights played solid defense and put up some runs. Chris Ewen collected his 3rd triple of the year in just 4 games.

May 27th Knights drop a pair to #1 Des Moines Dowling. Saturdays doubleheader featured the #1 team in 4A vs. the #1 team in 3A. Dowling jumped out to an early lead in game one. Despite Nick Renkosik's strong pitching performance and Homeruns by Reyes and Ewen the Knights dropped game 1 6-3. In Game 2 the Maroons of Dowling again jumped out to a 5-0 lead only to see that lead evaporate in the top of the 7th. The Knights tied the game at 5's and left a runner stranded on 3rd in teh top of the eight. Matt McCollaugh had an impressive first start of the year scattering 5 hits and giving up 6 runs. Dowling scored in the bottom of the 8th to take the sweep.

June 2nd Assumption opens conference play with SWEEP over Burlington. The Knights visited Burlington Friday night and took 2 games from the Grayhounds. In Game one Assumption pitcher Nick Renkosik went 6 innings and out pitched Burlington All-State pitcher Drew Shrader for a 5-2 victory. The Knights jumped out to a 1-0 lead early the Grayhounds took the lead back in the 4th (1-2) Pat Sievert tied the game in a hurry with a SOLO shot to the bus barn. Later in the inning Russ Reyes hit is 4th of the season and Matt Furlonged iced the game with a 2run bomb to give the Knights a 5-2 lead. The Knights closer, Matt Jones, closed out the 7th with 3k's to give the Knights the victory in game 1. Game 2 featured another strong pitching performance from Assumptions Mike Bitterman (2-0) The Knights won 6-3 with a balanced offensive attack. Again Matt Jones closes the game down for his second save of the season.

June 3rd Assumption WINS 3. Assumption wins The Little Hawk Classic on Saturday. Assumption won all three games on saturday with 3 strong pitching performances good defense, and an offensive explosion in game 3. THe Knights pitchers Joe Cruse won the first game of the day, Josh Pickett won game 2, and Jason "Nuke" Hyland won the championship. The knights played solid defense and had good at bats in all three games. The Knights were lead offensively by Russ Reyes, Chris Ewen, Matt McCollaugh, Chris Barret, Doug Pershall, Matt Furlong, Todd Ewen, and Dustin Arbogast. The Knights move to 7-4 on the season.

June 5th Knights split with Clinton. The Knights split with the Clinton River Kings on Monday night. The Knights lost game 1 7-3 , Joe Ryan was tagged with the loss. The Knights did not play well mentally and had a few opurtunites to get back in the game. However in game 2 the Knights played well, Matt McCollaugh pitched a GEM and went the distance throwing just 79 pitches in 7 innings of work. The Knights beat Clinton ACE Sean Johnson who is attending Iowa State on a baseball scholarship. McCollaugh goes to 1-1 on the young season with the shutout victory of Clinton 5-0. The Knights move to 3-1 in conference play, and 8-5 overall.

June 8th Knights win 2! Knights win the first game 14-6 behind Nick Renkosik arm, Joe Beaudry led the offensive assault the first game as did Chris Barrett who hit his first HR of the season. In game two Mike BItterman was rolling along despite how SLOW the game was being played. Game 2 was won by the KNights up 11-8. Matt McCollaugh hit a 2 run BOMB and MAtt Furlong followed suit with his third of the season. P.S. Baseball is not any fun when it takes 6 hours to play a doubleheader.

June 10th Knights drop 2 in the Dowling Classic. Joe Cruse and Joe Ryan both pitched extremely well........ NOTHING ELSE WORTH MENTIONING!!

June 16th Knights lose 2 in conference match up. The Knights lost 2 games thursday night against Davenport West. THe First game the Knights lost 7-6 in 8 innings. Nick Renkosik pitched a fantastic game giving up 5 hits and 2 runs ( of which only 1 was earned) The Knights lead for 6 innings and in the bottom of the 6th West SCRATCHED out 2 runs to tie the game. Int he top of the 7th Firstbaseman MAtt McCollaugh hit a 2 out Home Run to give the Knights the lead heading into the bottom of the 7th. Sr. closer Matt Jones came in and relieved Renkoisk in the 7th. West batter hit a solo shot to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th. In the top of the 8th Chris Ewen hit a 3 run Blast to give the Knights a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the 8th. Jones sat the first 2 batters down, BUT >>>>>> with 2 outs the Falcons plated 4 runs to win the first game. IN Game 2 the knights jumped up on top early 4-1. Mike Bitterman game up a 3 run shot to west and Josh Pickett came in relief to do a great job but the knights could only muster up 1 more run. The Knights were swept, for the first time in 5 years in league play.

June 18th Knights win 2 against Washington. We won the first game 6-3 and game two 9-3. Joe Cruse won game won and Jason Hyland won game 2. Joe RYan got the save in game 1 and Matt McCollaugh saw an inning on the hill in game 2. Chris Ewen was 6-8 on the day and Russ Reyes was 4-7 with a double and his 5th Home RUn. Matt FUrlong hit is 4th home run and played LIGHTS out at third.

June 19th Knights sweep!! Assumption swept Bettendorf in MAC Conference action Monday night. THE KNights won game 1 12-4, behind Josh Pickett on the hill and solid defense. IN game 1 Chris Barrett hit his 2nd home run of the season, Matt Furlong had a bases clearing doulbe. Chris Ewen and TIm Schnden collected multiple hits. IN Game 2 the Knights jumped on the back of Senior Matt McCollaugh ( 2-0 in league play) Matt gave up 3 infield hits and had 3 walks. The Knights were led by Russ Reyes and Chris Ewen and a timely Joe Cruse rbi single. Joe Ryan got the save in game 2. The KNights played well and took advantage of Bettendorfs mistakes and took the extra base all day, The Knights move to 7-3 in conference play.

June 21st Knights split with Dyersville Beckman. Jason Hyland threw game 1 and pitched well enough to win but the Knights couldnt make the routine play, Chris Ewen homered. In game 2 " EL DUKE" aka Jordan Maus made his pitching debut and threw well and got the "W". The offense was led by Chris Ewen who hit his 2nd and 3rd HR of the night and had a triple to go along with it. Matt Furlong homered as well as Chris Barret. THe knights are now 15-10.

June 22nd WINNING UGLY!!!!!! The Knights swept two form Muscatine on Thursday. The Knights won both games with RBI singles from Joe Beaudry. In game 1 Nick Renkosik matched up against PREVIOUSLY undefeated Nate Panther. Renkosik won the battle and gave Panther his first conference loss. The Knights were down 2-1 untill Chris Barret deposited a Nate Panter fast ball over the left field fence. Chris Ewen then hit a 2 out single to score Joe Beaudry in the bottom of the 6th. However the Musckies tied the took the lead 4-3 in the top half of the 7th. Then with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th Joe Beaudry dorve in two runs to win the game. In game 2 the Knights played KICK BALL for a few innings and the Musckies jumped up 4-2. Joe Ryan replaced starter Mike Bitterman and held the Musckies in check. IN the top of the 5th the Musckies went up 8-4. IN the bottome of the 5th Chris Ewen hit a2 run double, making the score 8-7. Josh Pickett relieved Joe Ryan. Pickett SHUT THE DOOR, with a dominating 2 innings of work to get the eventual "W". Joe Beadury again hit a 2 run single give the Knights a SWEEP. The Knights are 9-3 in league play and 17-10 overall.

June 26th WINNING UGLY!!!! GOTTA LOVE LAST AT BATS!!! Knights SWEEP! THE Assumption Knights swept 2 games on Monday from North Scott. Game 1 saw the Knights win by the 10 run rule ( 13-3) behind Josh Picketts strong performance on the hill. The Knights saw HR's from Chris Ewen and Dustin Arbogast. Chris Ewen paced the knights at the dish as did Arbogast and Joe Beaudry. In game 2 the Knights jumped on Matt McCollaugh's back as he carried the Knights on the Hill for 6 solid innings. Matt Furlong hit a solo shot to give the knights a 1-0 lead in the 4th. In the 5th Furlong hit a 2 rbi single to lift the KNights to a 3-0 lead......... THEN CAME THE 6th. McCollaugh walked the lead off and then was plagued by AHS errors to allow the game to be tied at 3's. The next batter hit a GRAND SLAM to put the Lancers up 7-3 going into the bottom of the 6th. In the 6th the Knights managed NO runs to remain down by 4. Sophomore SENSATION Joe Ryan came in for McCollaugh ( who deserved the win only giving up 2 earned runs) and SLAMMED I MEAN SLAMMED ..... I SAY AGAIN SLAMMED THE DOOR. Ryan struck out 9 of the 10 batters he faced. In the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs and the score 7-4 and men on first and second AHS very OFFENSE JUGGERNAUT CHRIS BARRETT hit a 3 run JACK to tie the game. In the Bottom of the eight Tim Schneden lead the inning of with a bunt hit followed by Arbogast bunt hit. This lead to men on first and third for Chris Ewen who promptly deposited a 0-0 pitch to the BAGGIE for the GAME WINNING RBI. The Knights are 19-10 overall and 11-3 in league play.

June 30-July 1st Knights win Saydel Tourney. The Knights won 3 games to take the champioship at the annual Saydel Tournament. Game 1 was won by Mike Bitterman by the score of 7-2. The Knights played solid "D" and hit the ball well Reyes, Pershall and Beuadry and Ewen all had 2 or more hits. Game 2 was against Des Moines East " East Side East Side East Side Hight" Nick Renkosik got the "w" with a 13-2 decsion. The Knights were paced by Reyes Furlong Ewen and Sievert. ( and as usual East SIDE HIGH enjoys to chatter alot........ ) THe Championship game saw the Knights beat SE warren?? 8-7. Ben Cruse got the "W' The Knightss were again paced by Reyes, Ewen, Furlong and Matt McCollaugh. The KNights showcased the future in this game. Jr; Jason Hyland started on the hill and was relieved by Fr. Ben Cruse who was relieved by So. Nick Jager who was relieved by So. Joe Ryan.......and catching was Fr. Brandon Steinbrecher. 4 Knights named to all tourney team....... Chris Ewen, Matt Furlong, Nick Renkosik, and Mike Bitterman. The Knights improve to 22-10

July 3rd Knights SWEEP!!! The Knights swept 2 form Dav. North by the scores of 7-2 and 9-0. Game one saw Josh Pickett pitch a complete game. The Knights were paced by Chris Ewen, Russ Reyes and Josh Pickett. Game 2 saw Junior pitcher Joe Cruse reach the 6th inning with a no hitter still in tact. Joe pitched a 6 inning 2 hitter. Once again the Knights were led offensivley by Ewen, Reyes,Barret and Matt McCollaugh. Joe Ryan threw in the 7th and for mop up work. The KNights played well defenively and all around. The Knights shortstop Pat Sievert aka Jay Bell was stellar in the field all night. The Knights go to 24-10 overall and 13-3 in league play.

July 6th KNights GET swept!!!! Assumption lost 2 thursday Knight to Cav. Central. Game one saw the Knights not executing routine plays which led to a "L" Nik Renksoki pitched well enough to win. Game 2 saw the KNgihts GET "SPANKED" 12-4. The Knights end MAC play 13-5 and are 24--12 overall.

July 15th KNights win first round district game 13-0. THe Knights defeated Maquketa in the first round of disrtict play . Matt FUrlong had 3 hits and 6 rbi's , Matt McCollaugh had 2 doulbes , Chris Ewen had 3 hits a HR and 4 rbi's. Russ Reyes also had 2 hits. Nick Renkosik got the "W".

July 18th Knights win District title. Knights beat Marion 16-11. The Knights hit the ball well and Joe Ryan got the win and Nick Renkisik got a huge save. Beaudry , Cruse each had 2 hits. Chris Barrett hit a Grand Slam to put the Kngihts up 16-9. THe KNgihts move to 27-14

July 21st. Knights fall in substate game. The Knights lost 10-2 in friday nights substate game to Vinton Shellsburg. The Knights fell behind 4-0 in the first and could never rally against Vinton. Chris Ewen lead the Knights with 3 hits. The Knights end the season 27-15!!