Linn-Mar Baseball

Prokop's night for Lions

It was Corey Prokop's night Monday at Linn-Mar.

Prokop's three-run home run in the opener provided all the offense the Lions needed and his two-out RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning in the nightcap chased home the winning run as Linn-Mar swept a Mississippi Valley Conference baseball doubleheader from Jefferson.

Linn-Mar (9-6, 5-4 MVC) won the opener, 3-1, behind the two-hit pitching of junior Jake Stolley and Prokop's blast. The Lions took the nightcap, 8-7.

"I don't remember the last time we swept Jeff," Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said."Hopefully, that's a stepping stone for our program and we can build on that a little bit."

While Stolley and Jefferson senior Michael Rooney hooked up in a pitchers' duel in the opener, the teams combined for 29 hits in the nightcap. Jeffferson's Jordan McCormick and Bailey Hollingsworth hit home runs and Linn-Mar batters banged out seven doubles, two by Prokop, who finished the night 5-for-7 with six RBIs.

"It was a fastball middle," the diminutive Prokop said of his game-winning blow in the nightcap. "I just wanted to hit it hard."

Linn-Mar appeared to have the sweep wrapped up in the top of the seventh. Southpaw Keaton Blackford came on in a save situation and struck out the first two J-Hawks (5-9, 3-7) he faced.

But Tanner Unkel stroked his second double of the game, Rooney singled him home and Alex Larson's single put the tying run at second base. McCormick then skied a pop up that soared above the level of the lights and Stolley, fresh into the game at first base, dropped it for a run-scoring error. Austin Stroschein relieved Blackford and enticed Drew Striegel to ground out to short to end the inning with the go-ahead run at third base.

"Usually, you make a mistake like that and it comes back to bite you," Lechner said of the dropped pop up. "I'm real proud of our guys and the way they battled back through that.

"It came down to hitting," said Unkel, who had four hits in the nightcap and five for the day. "They had great pitching and we had great pitching. Bailey (Hollingsworth) came in and he threw lights out. There's nothing you can do about that (Prokop) hit."

Hollingsworth, the J-Hawks' fourth pitcher of the game, was tough as nails, striking out seven in 3 2/3 innings. But Travis Kvach beat out a one-out infield single in the hole at short in the bottom of the 10th. After a pop out and with the count 1-1 on Prokop, Kvach broke for second. Prokop launched a long fly ball over the head of Rooney, Jefferson's center fielder. Kvach easily scored.

Lechner said he had only one qualm with the Lions' performance in the opener, and that was a lack of timely hitting that kept the game close. Linn-Mar put up six runs over the first three frames of the nightcap, banging out six of its doubles.

"We had some two-out hits and scored some runs," Lechner said. "Defensively, we did a nice job and our pitchers kept giving us chances and we finally took advantage of one."

Jefferson battled back. McCormick hit a two-run homer in the third and the J-Hawks added two more in the fourth on Unkel's RBI double and Larson's RBI single. Hollingsworth's one-out solo homer in the fifth cut the Linn-Mar lead to 6-5. The J-Hawks had the first two runners on base in the sixth, but failed to get a bunt down and instead grounded into a double play.

"We missed signs, we didn't get the bunt down and we didn't execute when we needed to in those crucial innings for us," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "That's what it really came down to for us."

Stolley pitched exceptionally in the opener, retiring the first nine batters he faced. Unkel's infield single leading off the fourth inning broke up the perfect game and the shutout faded when McCormick laced a 3-0 fastball off the right-field wall for a run-scoring triple.

"I was just trying to throw a strike and I left it a little high," Stolley said. "Earlier in the season I wasn't pitching so well, I just finally got in a groove. I got a spot and I threw where I was supposed to. There was nothing different. I just felt good."

Stolley got all the backing he needed when Prokop lofted a first-pitch fastball over the left-field fence with one out in the second inning.

"I thought it was a fly ball, but it carried," Prokop, a senior, said of his first high school home run. "I think it was my first home run since fourth grade."

Jefferson plays at Des Moines East on Tuesday. Linn-Mar plays Washington in the completion of a suspended game Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Washington. The J-Hawks and Lions play a nonconference JV-varsity doubleheader Thursday at Jefferson.

GAME 1

JEFFERSON (1)

Tanner Unkel, 2b, 2 0 1 0, Michael Rooney, p, 3 0 0 0, Dylan Jellison, cr, 0 1 0 0, Alex Larson, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Drew Striegel, c, 1 0 0 0, Aaron Gruwell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Ky Kramer, ss, 2 0 0 0, Jordan Dee, ph, 1 0 0 0, Bailey Hollingsworth, rf, 3 0 0 0, Drake Vanous, lf, 2 0 0 0, Christian Knox, cf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 23 1 2 1.

LINN-MAR (3)

Aaron Hunter, lf, 3 0 0 0, Ben Larison, ss, 3 0 0 0, Michael Redmond, cf, 2 0 1 0, Jordan Stroschein, rf, 3 0 0 0, Jeremy Danover, c, 3 0 0 0, Austin Stroschein, 3b, 2 1 0 0, Keaton Blackford, 1b, 2 1 2 0, Corey Prokop, 2b, 2 1 2 3, Mitch Stickney, dh, 2 0 0 0, Jake Stolley, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 22 3 5 3.

Jefferson   000 100 0 - 1 2 1
Linn-Mar    030 000 x - 3 5 0

Rooney and Striegel. Stolley and Danover. W-Stolley. L-Rooney. 3B-McCormick. HR-Prokop (1). SB-Hunter 2, Redmond.

GAME 2

JEFFERSON (7)
Unkel, 2b, 6 2 4 1, Rooney, cf, 6 1 2 1, Larson, 3b, 6 1 3 1, McCormick, 1b, 5 1 2 2, Jellsion, pr, 0 0 0 0, Striegel, c, 3 0 0 0, Dee, p, 1 0 0 0, Colten Jourdan, p, 2 0 0 0, Austin Goodell, p-rf, 1 0 0 0, Gruwell, pr, 0 0 0 0, Knox, lf, 1 0 0 0, Kramer, ss, 5 0 1 0, Chance Tiedtke, ph, 1 0 0 0, Hollingsworth, rf-p, 5 1 1 1, Vanous, lf-rf, 3 1 1 0. Totals 45 7 14 6.

LINN-MAR (8)
Hunter, cf, 5 1 1 0, Prokop, 2b-3b, 5 2 3 3, Larison, ss, 5 0 2 0, J.Stroschein, rf-p, 3 1 1 1, Ryan Sturenfeldt, cr-pr, 0 1 0 0, Danover, c, 5 1 1 0, A.Stroschein, 3b-p, 5 0 2 1, Blackford, 1b-p, 5 0 1 0, Kevin Bogert, lf-rf, 4 2 1 1, Travis Kvach, dh, 5 1 3 1, Nate Greve, p, 0 0 0 0, Casey Brown, p, 0 0 0 0, Stolley, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Eric Bohr, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Stickney, lf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 42 8 15 7.

Jefferson  002 210 200 0 -  7  14  3
Linn-Mar   213 001 000 1  -  8  15  3
(Two outs when winning run scored)

Jordan Dee, Colten Jourdan (3), Austin Goodell (6), Bailey Hollingsworth (7) and Drew Striegel. Nate Greve, Casey Brown (5), Keaton Blackford (7), Austin Stroschein (7), Jordan Stroschein (10) and Jeremy Danover. W-J.Stroschein. L-Hollingsworth. 2B-Unkel 2, Hunter, Prokop 2, J.Stroschein, Danover, Blackford, Kvach. HR-McCormick, Hollingsworth. SB-Unkel, Prokop, Bogert.