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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022
Three Wildcats named to All-Conference baseball teams By Trenten Scheidegger CORRESPONDENT
Although the River Ridge-Scales Mound baseball season didn’t end the way they had hoped, the 2022 Wildcats had plenty to hang their hats on. RR-SM Head Coach, Jeremy Knauer, takes pride in his teams being able to play their best ball at the end of the season. That wasn’t the case in 2022, as the Cats ended their season on a 2-5 skid. The good news? The Cats will once again return the core of their team for another run in 2023. Soon-to-be senior Maddox Knauer capped off his junior season with a First Team All-Conference NUIC-West selection. Maddox took on a major workload for the Wildcats in 2022. The right-handed pitcher tossed over 52 innings on the mound, where he touted a 2.28 earned run average with 75 strikeouts and just 13 walks and 17 earned runs allowed all season. Knauer also led the way at the plate with an incredible .400 batting average. With three homeruns, 23 runs batted in, and 16 runs scored, Knauer was a productive and efficient leader for the Wildcats. Another one of the Wildcats’ top players is fellow junior Dylan Diehl. While Diehl struggled offensively, he provided RR-SM with another solid arm on the mound. The junior pitched just over 44 innings where he struck out 42 batters and allowed just 15 earned runs. Diehl held a 2.36 ERA and an overall record of 3-4 at the end of the season. The righty was awarded a Second Team All-Conference NUIC-West Selection for his work on the season. Together Diehl and Knauer pitched over sixty percent of the Wildcats’ innings in 2022. Them carrying such a workload and being able to return for another season should be exciting for Wildcat fans. Jeremy spoke about having the duo back on his squad next season, saying, “Having Dylan and Maddox back will be huge. They pitched most of our innings this season and helped lead
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Dairy cows on an Illinois farm.
Illinois dairy farmer shares his story in celebration of National Dairy Month By Sierra Henry
ILLINOIS FARM BUREAU
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ites use the same quality milk products supplied by local Illinois farms, and in celebration of National Dairy Month this month, Illinois Farm Bureau sat down with dairy farmer Tony Graves, owner and operator of Clover Farms in Dundas. Graves grew up on his family dairy, which has roots dating back to 1917. Today, he milks close to 1,200 cows on the farm and ships milk to Prairie Farms Dairy. In 2007, Graves joined the Prairie Farms Board to advocate for the betterment of the dairy industry. He also serves as treasurer on the Illinois Milk Producers Association Board of Directors.
of good people, especially when you get to meet other dairy farmers because they understand the hard work that you’re putting in. The processors, the people who promote our product, they too realize that we put a lot of hours into what we do. In turn, they do their best to sell more product to get into consumers’ hands so they can enjoy a good, quality product that everybody is happy with. It’s just rewarding. With the hard work that goes into it, it makes you feel good.
can never happen. Milk is always tested—it’s tested when it leaves the farm, it’s tested when it leaves the creamery— it’s a healthy product and we always do our best to keep it that way. That’s our goal.
What did this spring look like on your farm? TG: We had a very wet spring, which was a challenge and put us behind on planting. During that time, we focused on hauling manure because we weren’t sure when we would be able to get into the field. We concentrated on applying the fertilizer, insectiWhat do you want cide, and fungicide on wheat consumers to know about the dairy industry? to ensure a good harvest in TG: I want consumers to June. know that we take animal What is the best part welfare seriously. We are al- What are some of the of working in the dairy ways doing our best to keep biggest issues facing the industry? our cows happy and healthy. dairy industry right now? TG: During the pandemic, TG: The best part about Many people are concerned working in the dairy industry about antibiotics in milk, but See STORY, Page 12 is that you get to meet a lot we want them to know that
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