Sports : Viking infielder Tanner Davis signs with Mount Mercy

Mount Mercy baseball coach Jack Dahm traveled to Vinton on Wednesday to welcome Vinton-Shellsburg senior baseball player Tanner Davis into his program. Davis, a senior, will play infield (shortstop, second or third base) for the Mustangs, who are expanding their program. In addition to a new field that is covered completed with artificial turf, the Mount Mercy program will be adding a JV team. Coach Dahm said he is impressed with Tanner's passion for the game, his work ethic and his defensive skills. Tanner, whose parents and younger siblings joined him as he signed with Mount Mercy, said he chose the Cedar Rapids college because of the individual attention from professors it offers. He plans to major in business. At Mercy, Davis will join 2016 Viking graduate Tyler Rippel, one of the Mustang pitchers. Rippel is taking a red-shirt year this season. Mount Mercy is an NAIA-level college, with its teams competing in the Heart of America Athletic Conference with several teams from Iowa as well as Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. A member of the 2015 team that went to State, and the starting second baseman for the 2016 team that advanced to Sub-State, Davis will also be one of the Viking pitchers in his final season as a high school player. Davis also played football for VS, and was a member of the four-man shuttle hurdle relay team that finished seventh in the 2016 State Track meet.