DES MOINES, Iowa – Muscatine High School’s Brance Rivera helped lead the Large School East to an opening round win Thursday in the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Series.

Rivera had a pair of hits and drove in three runs as the Large School East defeated the Small School East, 15-9, in the first-round game.

The Large School East scored all 15 of its runs in the opening two innings, plating nine in the first and six more in the second.

The winners, who were out-hit 14-8 in the game, were helped by four Small School East fielding errors and a number of walks.

Kyle Peterson of Burlington delivered a grand slam home run to highlight the first-inning uprising.

Drake Austin of Wilton, the only other player from the Journal area in the tournament, had two of the Small School East’s 14 hits.

Muscatine High School coach Matt Rivera is an assistant coach for the Large School East, while Wilton’s Jake Souhrada is the head coach for the Small        School East.

The other game on Thursday saw the Large School West rally for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 10-9 victory over the Small School East.

After two more games Friday night, the round-robin portion of the tournament series at Principal Park concludes today with Small East playing Small West at 10 a.m. and Large East facing Large West at noon.

The top two teams then meet in Sunday’s championship at 12:30 p.m. The other two will play in the consolation game at 10:30 a.m.

Large West 10, Small West 9

Small West                  000 060 3 –   9 12 2

Large West                  000 042 4 – 10 14 2

Kyler Morgan (Carlisle), Shaun McGuire (North Sentral, 6th) & Kaleb Evans (Creston); Andy Steinmetz (WDM Valley), Nick Anderson (Boone, 7th) & Scott Jensen (DM East), Troy Duboy (Johnston). Winner – Anderson. Loser – McGuire. Top hitters – Small West (Brock Yossi, Dallas Center, 2 hits, 3 RBI; Brent Stanton, Saydel, 3 hits, 2 RBI; Kyle Ruehle, Cherokee, 2 hits, 2B, 1 RBI); Large West (Scott Jensen, DM East, 2 hits; Andy Steinmetz, WDM Valley, 2 RBI; Tyler Peschong, Marshalltown, 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI; Brian Wanner, S.C. North, 3 hits, 3B, 3 RBI).

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Large East 15, Small East 9

Small East                    000 330 3 –  9 14 4

Large East                   960 000 x – 15   8 0

Ryan Mabe (Beckman), Quinn Schultz (Lansing Kee, 2nd), Ryan Moore (Calamus-Wheatland, 2nd), Patrick Harshman (Centerville, 3rd) & Spenser Popinga (Central Springs); Patrick Lala (Marion), Chris Fisher (Vinton-Shellsburg, 4th), Garrett Linderwell (West Delaware, 5th), T.J. Werner (Burlington, 6th), B.J. Hermsen (West Delaware, 7th) & Nick Whitty (Bettendorf). W – Lala. L – Mabe. Top hitters – Small East (Patrick Harshman, Centerville, 2 hits, 1 RBI; Logan Potter, Solon, 2B, 1 RBI; Drake Austin, Wilton, 2 hits; Levi Ney, Iowa Mennonite, 2 RBI; Jeret Chiri, New London, 2 hits, 1 RBI); Large East (Brance Rivera, Muscatine, 2 hits, 3 RBI; Andrew Ewing, IC West, 2 hits; Justin Gideon, West Delaware, 2 hits, 1 RBI; Kyle Peterson, Burlington, 1 hit, HR, 4 RBI).