-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Troy Berg of Iowa Central makes a double play against Southwestern on Tuesday at rogers Park

A loss, at some point, was inevitable.

The reaction to it is what Iowa Central baseball coach Eric Stein will now closely monitor.

The fourth-ranked (NJCAA Div. II) Tritons had their school-record 22-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday, as Southwestern left town with a 14-12 victory in the ICCAC opener for both programs at Rogers Park.

Stein had felt this bubbling for a while, even as Iowa Central continued to dodge adversity on its actual ledger. Those bad habits came back to haunt the Tritons at the worst possible time against the Spartans (8-17).

“It wasn’t a very good day at the yard,” Stein conceded. “I’m not sure we did much of anything well. We got what we deserved.

“We’ve been talking about taking care of all the little things lately, and how important that ultimately is — especially when you get into conference play. But it’s sometimes hard to get the point across when you’re winning like we have been. So hopefully this will get us refocused and back on track, because the schedule isn’t going to get any easier.”

Iowa Central (22-1) plated four runs in the first inning, but Southwestern countered with 11 combined runs in the third, fourth and fifth frames to take a 11-6 advantage. A four-run seventh pulled the Tritons closer, but the Spartans ultimately prevailed and escaped a ninth-inning rally by the home squad.

Harrison Bowman went 4-for-5 with a home run, four runs scored and three RBI to pace Iowa Central at the plate. Cooper Nicholson, Troy Berg, Michael Siemer and Jack Mausser added two hits each, with Siemer going deep.

Berg tripled twice. Zakary Goodwin homered. Mausser, Goodwin and Will Smoot all drove in a pair.

The Tritons struggled some with the breezy conditions. Iowa Central pitchers walked seven and hit four batters.

“You just can’t issue 11 free passes like that and get away with it,” Stein said. “We had some errors, too, and misplays that maybe didn’t show up in the box score. When the wind is blowing out at 30 (miles an hour), those mistakes get magnified.

“If you score 12 runs, you should win. But I don’t think our at-bats across the board were particularly productive, either. We left a ton of meat on the bone.”

Iowa Central returns to action, weather permitting, on Saturday at DMACC for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. The Tritons are also slated to face the Bears on Sunday, before heading to Iowa Western on Wednesday, March 27.

SOUTHWESTERN 14, IOWA CENTRAL 12

Southwestern 003 350 210 — 14

Iowa Central 402 010 401 — 12

LP–Justin Benjamin. 2B–IC: Harrison Bowman. 3B–IC: Troy Berg 2. HR–IC: Michael Siemer, Harrison Bowman, Zakary Goodwin. SB–IC: Cooper Nicholson, Peter Johnson.