Xavier Baseball

Saints take pair from City High

IOWA CITY - The Xavier Saints took both ends of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader from Iowa City High Friday night, 5-3 in 10 innings and 6-0, in Iowa City.

Calvin Winker pitched a two-hit shutout and Nolan Arp drove in three runs with a double and single in the second game.

Colin O'Connell snapped a 3-3 tie in the top of the 10th inning of the opener with a sacrifice fly. Nolan Even provided an insurance run with an RBI single and was the winning pitcher.

Game 1

Xavier     000 011 010 2 - 5 10 3

City High  100 100 010 0 - 3 9 3

W - Even. L - Ringen.

Game 2

Xavier     001 032 0 - 6 3 2

City High  000 000 0 - 0 2 1

W - Winker. L - Forrester.

'Zach! Zach! Zach!' blanks Saints again

The Kennedy Cougars invented a new chant in honor of junior Zach Daniels Wednesday night after he pitched a shutout against Xavier for the second time this year.

"Zach! Zach! Zach!" they sang as Daniels emerged from the visitors dugout at Ken Charipar Field for a post-game interview.

"It's a little annoying," the honoree said, smiling, "but that's OK."

Daniels tossed a five-hit shutout as No.3 Kennedy blanked the Saints, 1-0,in the second game of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader.

Earlier this season, he pitched a one-hitter against Xavier and beat Mitch Keller in the semifinals of the Metro Tournament. Kennedy won the opener Wednesday, 13-4.

Daniels has thrown 14 innings against the Saints this year, allowing just six hits and no runs.

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Saints fall twice to No. 1 Hempstead

DUBUQUE - The Xavier Saints dropped a doubleheader to top-ranked Dubuque Hempstead Monday, 12-0 in five innings and 6-5, in Dubuque.

Bryce Grimm belted a two-run homer in the seventh inning of the nightcap to pull the Saints within 6-5, but the rally ended there. Grimm also hit a

double. Adam Pick went 3-for-4 for Xavier in the second game.

The Saints fell to 12-10 overall and 6-8 in the MVC.

Game 1

Xavier       000 00 - 0 2 4
Hempstead    444 0x - 12 13 0

W - Vaassen. L - Pick.

Game 2

Xavier       000 300 2 - 5 9 0
Hempstead    041 001 x - 6 11 1

W - Tomkins. L - Even.

Cougars, J-Hawks lead Metro baseball

This is not shaping up as a particularly good year for high school baseball in the Metro area.

Only Kennedy and Jefferson have winning records in conference games. And only Kennedy, Jefferson and Xavier have winning records overall.

The Xavier Saints suffered a big loss this month when Mitch Keller accepted a $1 million signing bonus from Pittsburgh and left to begin his pro career.

The Linn-Mar Lions also have suffered a big loss with all-state catcher Brandt Ollinger playing travel ball this summer with an all-star team. Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said Ollinger will be gone for an extended period of time.

Kennedy is ranked No. 2 in Class 4A and Jefferson defeated No. 1 Hempstead in the second game of a doubleheader Friday.

Here are the Metro records through June 22:

Kennedy         14-2 overall   10-2 MVC
Jefferson       13-6 overall   8-4 MVC
Xavier          12-8 overall   6-6 MVC
Marion          8-8 overall    6-6 Wamac
Linn-Mar        9-14 overall   4-8 MVC
Prairie         4-12 overall   3-7 MVC
Washington      3-12 overall   3-9 MVC
Cedar Valley    0-14 overall