Among the highlights of the 2023 Greene County High School baseball season is the play of senior catcher Brayden Roberts. The Iowa Western Community College (Council Bluffs) recruit has been solid at the plate, but it’s behind the plate where he’s excelled. The Rams went 3-19 during the regular season and await a July 7 trip to Alleman to face North Polk, the top seed in Class 3A Region 3, in the opening round of the postseason.

You may not expect the catcher on a team 16 games below the .500 mark to be adept at throwing out would-be base stealers, but that’s just what the Rams have in Roberts. Getting a late start to the baseball season due to starting on the Rams’ State Tournament soccer team, Roberts has started just 19 games, yet has caught 14 would-be base stealers. That number is tied for fifth most in Class 3A and tied for 11th in the entire state, despite playing fewer games than all the other players with more runners thrown out. In addition, Roberts leads the Rams in several offensive categories, among those with at least 10 varsity at-bats, including batting average (.306), on-base percentage (.445), slugging percentage (.510), doubles (7), runs batted in (14), and he has the only home run the Rams have in 2023.

The 7 p.m. Greene County at North Polk postseason contest will be broadcast on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.