Linn-Mar Baseball

Kennedy, Linn-Mar earn home-field edge

Kennedy and Linn-Mar will have the home-field advantage when the Class 4A substate tournament series opens July 13.

The Cougars and Lions both have secured No. 1 seeds in their respective substates. If they win their openers on July 13, they will play in the substate finals -- at home -- on July 18. Substate winners advance to the state tournament at Des Moines. The 4A tournament is July 25, 27-28.

Official pairings for the Class 4A substate baseball tournaments won't be announced by the Iowa High School Athletic Association until later this week. But utilizing the criteria used by the IHSAA, the Metro Sports Report has calculated the standings.

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Linn-Mar runs into foul weather in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - The Linn-Mar Lions got off to a promising start in their showdown with Iowa City High Friday, but Mother Nature intervened.

Linn-Mar led, 2-0, in the top of the third inning of the Mississippi Valley Conference opener when the game was suspended due to lightning and the threat of severe weather.

The doubleheader will be resumed on Monday, July 9 at 5 p.m. at Mercer Park in Iowa City with the Lions holding their 2-0 lead in the top of the third with two outs, a runner on second base and a 3-2 count to Austin Banks.

Jake Stolley struck out three batters in two innings for the Lions.

Linn-Mar is clinging to first place in the Mississippi Division of the MVC with a 17-3 record. Kennedy raised its record to 17-4 Friday with a 15-0 victory at Dubuque Wahlert, but the second game of that twinbill was suspended in the fourth inning with Kennedy holding a 4-0 lead.

Iowa City High has a 16-4 record in the Mississippi Division as all three teams battle for the division title in the 26-game season.

Lions take control of MVC race

Linn-Mar took sole possession of first place in the MVC Mississippi Division with a doubleheader sweep of Cedar Falls at home Wednesday night.

The Lions won the opener 5-2 after going ahead early but had to rally from a 6-0 deficit in the nightcap for a 9-8 comeback win.

The twin wins give them a 17-3 conference mark (22-8 overall) with a crucial double bill at Iowa City High Friday.  The Little Hawks split a doubleheader at Kennedy Wednesday, leaving both teams at 16-4 in the tight division race.

It took some clutch hits and even more gutsy relief pitching for Linn-Mar to salvage the second game against Cedar Falls (15-14, 7-13 MVC).

The Tigers scored a run in the first on a passed ball, then jumped all over Lion starter Austin Stroschein for five runs in the second.  They only collected four singles while batting through the order, but two Linn-Mar errors helped open the floodgates.

Jake Stolley put the Lions on the scoreboard with a double in the second.

And it was Stolley, normally a starting pitcher who is scheduled to throw Friday, who came on in relief for the seventh inning and struck out the side for his first save of the year.

“I just went in there with a lot of confidence,” said the hard-throwing lefthander about preserving the one-run lead.  “I was hoping for ground balls, but it felt great to get the strikeouts.”

Seldom-used hurler Tyler Kane was given an even tougher task in the sixth inning when he was called in from the bullpen with one out and the bases loaded. He replaced Nick Jennings, who had come on for Stroschein to start the sixth after Linn-Mar had battled back to take a 9-7 lead.

Jennings gave up a run on two hits and two walks, however, and made an early exit.  Kane, who had one start and seven total innings on his resume this season, was brought in and mowed down both batters he faced. He immediately let out a scream of relief.

I’m a pretty emotional guy,” said the lineman on the Linn-Mar football team.  “I usually save it for the football field. But tonight the adrenaline was really going I just went in there to throw strikes.”

Kane wasn’t the only unheralded Lion to come through in the clutch.

Trailing 7-4 going into its half of the fifth, Linn-Mar erupted for five runs.  And no blow was bigger than the triple smacked to deep left center by pinch hitter Travis Kvach to score Jimmy Roth with the final run.

"I’d been struggling at the plate,” said Kvach, who started at second base earlier in the season.

With two outs and two strikes in the hole, the diminutive speedster tagged a fast ball and never slowed until sliding head first into third.  Since Cedar Falls came back with a score in the sixth, the RBI by Kvach turned out to be the deciding score.

“Hopefully, that will get me some more at bats,” he said afterward.

While the second game was a nail-biter for the Lions, they coasted in the first behind a solid complete game pitching performance from Keaton Blackford.  His teammates spotted him a 3-0 lead in the third inning on RBI doubles by Roth and Nate Greve, along with a run-scoring single from Mitch Stickney.

The Tigers loaded the bases in the fourth, but Blackford got a strikeout to end the inning.

After scoring their first run in the top of the sixth, the Tigers again filled the bases. But Blackford came through again with a strikeout the quell the rally.

“It was good to get two grinding wins,” Lion Assistant Coach Kyle Rodenkirk said afterward.  “Our sticks came alive early in the first one. And then in the second one we got down but just kept crawling our way back. The guys never gave up.”

Assistant Brent Henry said pitching was the key in both victories.

“Blackford had a good game, and that was huge for us,” he said. “Then the bullpen did a phenomenal job in that second game.

“Kane and Stolley had gut checks, and both of them came through.”

GAME ONE

CEDAR FALLS (2)
Deines 3 0 0 0, Sole 3 0 1 0, Hagarty 4 0 1 0, Farley 4 0 2 1, Fletcher 3 0 1 0, Paup 3 0 0 0, Daniels 2 0 1 0, Mozena 3 0 0 0, Creger 2 1 1 0, Kuntz 0 0 0 0. Totals 27 2 7 1.

LINN-MAR (5)
Greve 3 1 1 1, Bogert 3 1 0 0, Redmond 4 0 1 0, Stickney 4 1 2 1, Stroschein 3 0 2 0, Roth 1 0 1 1, Stolley 1 0 0 1, Banks 3 0 0 0, Blackford 3 0 1 0, Kvach 0 2 0 0. Totals 25 5 8 4.

Cedar Falls     000 001 1 - 2 7 2
Linn-Mar        003 011 x - 5 8 1

W - Blackford. L - Kloos. 2B - Greve, Roth.

GAME TWO

CEDAR FALLS (8)
Deines 3 3 1 1, Sole 3 0 2 1, Hagarty 4 1 2 1, Farley 3 0 2 2, Fletcher 4 0 2 2, Paup 3 1 0 0, Daniels 3 0 1 0, Kuntz 3 1 0 0, Creger 2 1 0 0, Mozena 0 1 0 0. Totals 28 8 10 7.

LINN-MAR (9)
Greve 4 1 0 0, Bogert 2 2 0 0, Redmond 4 1 2 0, Stickney 2 2 0 0, Stroschein 2 0 1 2, Roth 3 2 2 2, Stolley 3 0 1 1, Banks 2 0 0 1, Strellner 3 0 0 0, Mortensen 0 1 0 0. Totals 26 9 7 7.

Cedar Falls    150 101 0 - 8 10 2
Linn-Mar       022 050 x - 9 7 2

Seehase, Hagedorn (4), Sole (5). Stroschein, Jennings (6), Kane (6), Stolley (7). W - Stroschein. L - Hagedorn. S - Stolley. 2B - Hagarty, Stroschein, Roth, Stolley. 3B - Kvach. SB - Hagarty, Farley, Redmond.

No. 8 Lions smack Waterloo East

The Linn-Mar Lions, the No. 8 team in the state according to the latest poll, did nothing to hurt their ranking Monday night as they hosted Waterloo East in a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader.

The Lions put together 23 runs on 22 hits to go with quality pitching to defeat Waterloo East, 13-2 and 10-0, in a pair of five-inning games.

Nate Greve led the way in the first game, picking up three hits from his leadoff spot in the lineup and pitching a complete game with five hits and nine strikeouts.

“I was just looking to poke the ball on offense. Just get on base,” said Greve. “As far as pitching, I just try to pitch to contact, but it seemed like the outside corner was all mine on the mound tonight.”

Mitch Stickney collected two hits and drove in five runs in the first game, with three RBIs coming on a bases-loaded double in an eight-run third inning.

“It’s great to get people on in front of me and tonight it was my turn to get the RBIs,” said Stickney. “I really enjoy hitting fourth in this lineup.”

The nightcap saw the Lions (20-8, 15-3) collect 10 hits and 10 runs, but the story was more Waterloo East's eight errors. Stickney, Austin Banks and starting pitcher Justin Wyant each had two hits.

Wyant pitched the first four innings for the win and gave way to Keaton Blackford in the fifth to finish the 10-0 victory. Wyant struck out six batters.

“I am really confident in our defense, so I am more of a contact pitcher, but some nights I get some strikeouts,” said Wyant.

Jesse Billings led the Trojan attack with three hits in the twinbill. John Magnuson and Bryce Frost collected two hits apiece for Waterloo East (4-24, 3-15).

Linn-Mar hosts Cedar Falls on Wednesday. The Lions are chasing an MVC title and a No. 1 seed in the substate tournament.

GAME ONE

WATERLOO EAST (2)
Magnuson, ss, 3 1 2 0, Scribner, cf, 2 0 0 0, Billings, p/cf, 3 1 2 1, Mnayer, dh, 2 0 0 0, McCann, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Sahr, c, 2 0 1 1, Schutte, cr, 0 0 0 0, Howard, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Faith, lf, 2 0 0 0, Ramirez, 2b, 2 0 0 0, Frost, rf/p, 2 0 0 0. Totals 20 2 5 2.

LINN-MAR (13)
Greve, p, 4 0 3 1, Bettman, cr, 0 3 0 0, Bogert, rf, 0 1 0 0, Ollinger, ph, 0 0 0 0, Redmond, cf, 2 1 1 0, Kane, ph, 1 0 1 1, Stickney, lf, 3 2 2 5, Jennings, ph, 1 0 0 0, Stroschein, 3b, 2 2 1 1, Mortensen, 1 1 0 0, Roth, dh, 1 2 1 0, Strellner, ss, 0 0 0 0, Stolley, 1b, 2 0 1 2, Wyant, ph,1 0 0 0, Banks, c, 2 0 1 1, Kvach, 2b, 2 1 1 0. Totals 22 13 12 11.

Waterloo East    002 00 -  2   5 0
Linn-Mar            418 0x - 13 12 1

Billings, Frost (3) and Sahr; Greve and Banks. W - Greve L - Billings. 2B – Magnuson, Stickney, Roth.

GAME TWO

WATERLOO EAST (0)
Magnuson, ss, 3 0 0 0, Frost, rf, 3 0 2 0, Billings, cf, 3 0 1 0, Mnayer, 3b, 2 0 1 0, Sahr, c, 2 0 0 0, Howard, p/3b, 2 0 0 0, Scribner, p, 0 0 0 0, Schutte, dh, 2 0 0 0, McCann, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Faith, lf, 1 0 0 0, Ramirez, 2b, 2 0 1 0. Totals 20 0 5 0.

LINN-MAR (10)
Greve, p, 3 2 1 1, Strellner, ss, 0 0 0 0, Bogert, 2b, 4 1 0 0, Redmond, cf, 4 0 1 1, Stickney, lf, 3 1 2 0, Stroschein, 3b, 2 0 0 1, Roth, dh, 2 2 1 0, Stolley, 1b, 2 1 1 0, Kruse, pr, 0 1 0 0, Banks, c, 3 0 2 1, Kvach, cr, 0 1 0 0, Wyant, p, 2 0 2 0, Mortensen, 0 1 0 0, Blackford, p, 1 0 0 0. Totals 26 10 10 4.

Waterloo East    000 00 -   0  5 8
Linn-Mar            020 53 - 10 10 1

Howard, Sahr (5) and Sahr, Scribner (5); Wyant, Blackford (5) and Banks. W - Wyant. L - Howard. 2B – Magnuson, Stickney, Roth.