Austin grad Alex Ciola has been having the best spring of his long baseball career with Riverland Community College, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that he was able to show his improvements on his home field. Ciola belted a homer and picked up a shutout pitching win as the Blue Devils swept Western Tech in their home opener by scores of 18-6 in five innings and 10-0 in five innings in Seltz Field.

Ciola has been playing in the outfield and batting lead-off for RCC (17-4 overall) as he had a batting average of .422 headed into Wednesday’s games, where he combined to go four-for-six with three RBIs.

Ciola started this season by committing himself to the weight room after RCC’s season ended last year on a walk-off homer in the Regional tournament.

“I still remember vividly the last home run that ended our season last year,” Ciola said. “I never let that out of my head and I thought about it every day in the offseason. I ended up putting on about 40 pounds. After being two wins away from the world series, it was pretty easy to get off the couch and go hit the weights.”

RCC head coach Scott Koenigs said that Ciola has added a lot of power to his bat this season. Ciola has totaled 11 extra base hits in 21 games for RCC.

“He’s been tremendous this year,” Koenigs said of Ciola said. “He’s a different player than he was last year. He’s smashing the ball and it’s jumping off his bat. His home run today was a hanging curve ball that he dropped the head on and knocked it out of the yard. Last year that would’ve been a routine fly ball to right field.”

RCC slugger Josh Molina, who was five-for-eight with three RBIs Wednesday, has also seen big improvements for Ciola this season.

“He got a lot better this year,” Ciola said. “Last year he hit well, but this year he’s hitting better and that’s a big help for the team.” 

Ciola isn’t sure if he’ll be playing college baseball anywhere next year, but he is sure that he’s learned a lot in his two seasons with the Blue Devils. He’s learned from watching All-American Mason Ruhlman that it’s better to be patient than worked up at the plate.

“I’ve really calmed down a lot. I saw the big hitters last year, especially Mason, always be so calm at the plate. Before that I always anticipated and was nervous,” Ciola said.

RCC’s schedule has been ravaged by weather this season and the MCAC has reduced its conference schedule from 16 games to eight games. The Blue Devils, who sit at first place in the MCAC, will play its final three conference games of the season this weekend against Anoka-Ramsey, RCTC and Minnesota West.

Koenigs said the weather has made his last season as RCC head coach a tough one.

“It was really frustrating. I’ve never seen anything like that in 20 years of coaching baseball,” Koenigs said. “It was tough to keep the guys motivated in the gym because they were sick of being in the gym and us coaches were sick of being in the gym. We got through it and it kind of helped us because the fire is still there.”

RCC 18, Western Tech. 6 (5 innings)

RCC pitching: Gaven Comley (W) 1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 HBP; Efrain Cruz, 3 1/3 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 R, 2 K

RCC hitting: Alex Ciola, 2-for-3, HR, double, 2 RBIs, 3 R; Mason Ruhlman, 1-for-4, double, 3 R, BB; Josh Molina, 2-for-3, BB, 3 R; Yadiel Ortiz, 3-for-4, 2 RBIs, 4 R; Luis Rosario, 2-for-3, double, 3 RBIs, 2 R; Brady Braaten, 2-for-3, 6 RBIs, R, SB; Jackson McNellis, 2-for-4, 3 RBIs, R, SB; Brad Morris, 1-for-2, RBI; Reinaldo Espada, 1-for-3, double, R

RCC 10, Western Tech 0 (5 innings)

RCC pitching: Ciola (W) 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 K

RCC hitting: Ciola, 2-for-3, RBI, 2 R, BB; Ruhlman, 1-for-3, HBP; Molina, 3-for-4, 4 RBIs; Ortiz, 0-for-3; Rosario, 1-for-3, HR, RBI, R; Gavin Roosen, 2-for-3, R, SB; Jack McNellis, 2-for-3, double, RBI, 2 R; JanLouis Reyes, 2-for-3, 2 R, SB; Morris, 1-for-3, RBI, 2 R, SB