The Raider defense came through several times to prevent a big inning and earn a region win. Three Rivers College picked up its first Region XVI win of the season with a split against Jefferson College on Thursday. Tyler Kuhlmann pitched a complete game shutout for the Raiders to beat Jefferson 2-0 in the opener before the Vikings rebounded to win the nightcap 12-1 in five innings. "In the postgame talk between games, a lot of things the guys were saying was that was really fun," Three Rivers coach Stacey Burkey said. "They played loose and confident." Kuhlmann (1-3) struck out eight and allowed five hits and three walks. "The best he's pitched this year," Burkey said. "He was able to establish his fast ball and was able to commit some breaking pitches and some change ups over when he needed it."

The Raiders played error free defense behind him and turned inningending double plays in the first and third innings. "That was huge for us, a big boost. Just played really confident in those situations and it was good to see," Burkey said. Jefferson had one hit after the second inning, a single in the sixth, and six runners throughout. It was Kuhlmann's third complete game in five starts. He entered Thursday with a 4.09 ERA and 7.77 strikeouts per nine innings. After the Raiders (4-11, 1-9 Region XVI) managed one batter over the minimum through three innings, Dylan Kater was hit by a pitch and soon scored his eighth run of the season. Garyn Stewart had a leadoff single in the fifth, moved into scoring position on Matt Robbins' sacrifice, and scored the insurance run with two outs after hits by the top of the Raider lineup. The win ended an eight game losing streak for the Raiders, all of them against region opponents. Jefferson (9-8, 1-1 Region XVI) scored three in the first and at least two runs in every inning of the rain-soaked nightcap to invoke the run rule. "They hit a couple ball that were hard hit in the outfield that shot right to the fence in the wet grass and we weren't able to hit one of those," Burkey said. Three Raider pitchers each pitched 1 1/3 innings. Fernando Burgos (0-2) started and took the loss after giving up six hits, no walk, and five runs with one strikeout. Trey Kirkpatrick then allowed four hits and a walk for four runs with one strikeout. Lane Crowley finished the game and allowed three hits and a walk for three runs and no strikeouts.