Jefferson Baseball

J-Hawks will improve as season goes along

“This year’s senior class will really need to lead by example,” said Jefferson baseball coach Mike Kuba. “We have a group of seniors that are very competitive and they will need to convey that intensity to our young team throughout the summer.”

The J-Hawks are coming off of a 14-23 season that saw them improve as the summer wore on and they need to carry that improvement over to this year and build on that development.

The J-Hawks return about 100 innings on the mound and have five players who saw between 40 and 80 plate appearances last season. They have people who have some experience to build on and when they expand on the innings they play, they will need to expand their production as well.

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Garman named preseason All-American

Jefferson grad Ryan Garman has been named a Preseason All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Garman is a senior pitcher at Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich. He was 9-1 with a 1.70 ERA for the Lakers last season and fired the seventh no-hitter in school history.

Garman is one of four Grand Valley players named to the Division II team. The Lakers were 52-5 last season and made their fifth appearance in nine years in the NCAA Division II World Series.

Garman is a 2007 Jefferson grad. He played two seasons at Johnson County (Kan.) Community College, wrapped around a medical red-shirt year. Last year was his first season at Grand Valley State. He was named to all-region teams by the ABCA (first), Daktronics (second) and NCBWA (second). He also was named to the Great Lakes Conference first team.

Grand Valley played a three-game exhibition series against the Cuban National Team in Havana in early January and was 0-3. Garman started the third game, a 13-5 loss.

The Lakers open the season Feb. 27 at Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky.

No denying Michael this time

Ten days ago, Kennedy's Griffin Michael hit a ball into the right-center field gap that had extra-bases and a tie ballgame against Jefferson written all over it. Instead, J-Hawks right fielder Jake Schmidt flagged it down and Jefferson beat the Cougars.

There was no tracking down Michael's drives Friday.

Michael doubled, tripled and drove in two runs, and Devon Jacobus hit a home run and drove in three to power Kennedy past Jefferson, 7-3, in a Class 4A substate tournament baseball game played before a crowd estimated at 500 people at Kennedy.

Defending state champion Kennedy (30-8) is the top-seeded team in Region 3 and, thus, receives a bye into Wednesday's substate final that also will be played at Kennedy. The Cougars' opponent will be either Xavier or Dubuque Hempstead, who play each other Monday at Xavier. Second-seeded Xavier beat Dubuque Senior, 5-1, and No. 3 seed Hempstead ousted Western Dubuque, 4-2, Friday night.

Michael had three of Kennedy's 11 hits and two of the Cougars' seven extra-base hits.

"I got a few to drop, but we were hitting the ball well today," said Michael, who was a teammate of four J-Hawks on a 13U national championship team a few years back. That and the loss to Jefferson had Michael looking to reclaim bragging rights. "We definitely wanted some redemption after that loss. We felt that was our game and we gave it away."

Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said the Law of Averages finally worked in Michael's favor.

"He's had a lot of balls this year that he's hit right at people," Hoyer said. "He's hit the ball a lot better than what his average has shown. What happened (in the previous Jeff game) is what's happened to him all year."

Kennedy southpaw Austin Christensen, who beat the J-Hawks (14-24) in the season-opening Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament, made sure there was no giving away this game. He pitched six innings of one-hit ball and struck out 10. Christensen, the Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, also was 2-for-2 at the plate with an RBI double.

"He was the best pitcher we faced Game 1 and he was the best pitcher we faced in Game 38," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said of Christensen. "I don't think there was anybody that we faced in between that was any better. He did a good job of keeping us off-balance early and he did a good job of not letting us get back into the game when we needed to get back into the game."

Christensen faced only two batters over the minimum.

"Obviously, it was in the back of our minds that they beat us the last time," Christensen said. "We knew they were coming in with nothing to lose and they were going to go all out, that they had a chance of beating us. We just tried to focus on the small things and go out and play a good game."

Kuba said before the game that the key to beating Kennedy was shutting the Cougars down the first three innings. The J-Hawks cut down two Cougars at the plate in the second inning, but weren't as fortunate in the third, when Kennedy struck for four runs.

Christensen helped his own cause with a one-out RBI double. Michael followed with an RBI triple and Jacobus then hit a moon shot over the left-field fence for a two-run home run and a 4-0 lead.

"That was huge following up (the second inning)," Hoyer said. The Cougars had runners at second and third with no outs in that inning, but failed to score when the two runners were cut down at the plate. "That gives you some momentum, and there was a lot of tension in the air."

The outburst came against Jefferson right-hander Bailey Hollingsworth, who was the winning pitcher 10 days earlier against the Cougars.

"I grew up with and played with a lot of those guys, so it was nice to get the win," said Michael, who was a teammate of Jefferson's Hollingsworth, Michael Rooney, Jordan McCormick and Drake Vanous on a 13U team that won a national championship.

Michael's RBI single in the fifth made it 5-0. His double in the seventh moved Christensen, who had opened the inning with a single, to third base with no outs. Jacobus hit a sacrifice fly and David Yancey an RBI single.

Jefferson scratched across three runs in the bottom of the seventh off Yancey on two hits, a walk and an error.

"We were confident coming into the game, we just started executing a little too late," Kuba said.

KENNEDY (7)
Terrell Sykes, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Austin Christensen, p-rf, 2 1 2 1, Matt Maiers, cr, 0 1 0 0, Griffin Michael, ss, 4 2 3 2, Devon Jacobus, 3b, 3 1 1 3, David Yancey, lf-p, 3 0 1 1, Cody Bell, 1b, 4 0 2 0, Logan Ambrosy, rf, 2 0 0 0, Adam Lloyd, rf, 0 0 0 0, Colin Taylor, ph, 1 0 1 0, Alex Hayden, cr-rf-lf, 1 0 0 0, Josh Jahlas, cf, 3 0 0 0, Austin Benson, dh, 2 1 0 0, Jimmy Lizarraga, c, 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 7 11 7.

JEFFERSON (3)
Tanner Unkel, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Michael Rooney, cf-p, 3 0 0 0, Alex Larson, ss, 2 0 0 0, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 3 1 2 0, Bailey Hollingsworth, p-rf, 2 1 1 0, Drew Striegel, c, 2 0 0 0, Jake Schmidt, rf-lf, 3 1 0 1, Sam Techau, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Drake Vanous, pr, 0 0 0 0, Christian Knox, lf-cf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 24 3 3 1.

Kennedy   004 010 2 -  7 11  1
Jefferson   000 000 3 - 3  3   1

Christensen, Yancey (7) and Lizarraga. Hollingsworth, Rooney (5) and Striegel. W - Christensen. L - Hollingsworth. 2B - Sykes, Christensen, Michael, Bell 2. 3B - Michael. HR - Jacobus. SB - Michael, Hayden.

Unkel named team MVP

Senior Tanner Unkel was named the Jefferson baseball team's Most Valuable Player at the team banquet Thursday.

Unkel led the J-Hawks in batting with a .426 average. He also had 10 doubles, four home runs and 27 stolen bases. He set the Jefferson stolen base career record of 58 stolen bases.

Senior Michael Rooney was named best defensive player, senior Bailey Hollingsworth best pitcher and junior Sam Techau got the Teammate Award.

The Coaches Award went to Patty and Randy Rooney, the parents of Michael Rooney. The Rooneys managed the concessions at the field - for all levels - for the past three seasons.