Jefferson Baseball

Jefferson baseball field damaged by storm

The Jefferson High School baseball field in southwest Cedar Rapids was heavily damaged late Monday night when a severe storm packing heavy winds tore through the facility and local neighborhoods.

"They're confirming it was a tornado," Jefferson baseball coach Kyle Rodenkirk said Tuesday afternoon at the field.

A thick wooden light pole that was stationed down the left-field line was snapped in half and thrown onto the field, smashing the lights and leaving shards of glass in left field.

Three other light poles on the first-base side and in right field were damaged, although not toppled over. The outfield fence in right field was knocked over, bleachers were damaged and a portable batting cage was tossed onto Rockford Road SW and crumpled.

Chris Deam, Jefferson's athletic director, was not prepared to put a price tag on the damage, but it easily could be tens of thousands of dollars. He said the field is covered by insurance through Cedar Rapids Community Schools.

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New-look J-Hawks split with Saints

Kyle Rodenkirk spent two long years as the head baseball coach at Anamosa High School where he was saddled with a 12-65 record, then he took over the Jefferson J-Hawks last season and came home with a 12-27 mark at his alma mater.

That left his overall record as a head coach at 24-92, which is nothing to brag about.

"A couple of years ago I was like, 'Man, am I just a bad coach?'" he said Monday night.

The answer, of course, is no. Rodenkirk is not a bad coach and the J-Hawks have been proving it this season.

Jefferson rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to clip Xavier, 6-5, in the first game of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader at Jefferson Monday.

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Cougars, J-Hawks lead Metro baseball

The Kennedy Cougars have the best record among Metro baseball teams with a 10-2 mark through Sunday, with the Jefferson J-Hawks a notch behind at 10-4.

Here are the Metro records:

KENNEDY          10-2 overall, 6-2 MVC
JEFFERSON        10-4 overall, 5-2 MVC
XAVIER              9-6 overall, 4-4 MVC
MARION             6-6 overall, 6-4 Wamac
LINN-MAR           8-9 overall, 3-5 MVC
PRAIRIE             4-9 overall, 3-4 MVC
WASHINGTON     2-9 overall, 2-6 MVC
CEDAR VALLEY     0-10 overall

J-Hawks split with Golden Eagles

DUBUQUE - Jared Eivins and Lucas Larson combined on a six-hit shutout as the Jefferson J-Hawks trimmed Dubuque Wahlert, 1-0, in the first game of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader in Dubuque Friday.

Wahlert won the second game, 6-5.

Eivins pitched the first five innings of the opener and allowed three hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Larson tossed the final two frames.

Mannie Olutunde drove in Jefferson's run in the sixth inning.

Spencer VanScoyoc went 3-for-4 with a double and triple and scored two runs for the J-Hawks in the second game. Eivins and Michael Neuberger had two hits.

Game 1

Jefferson    000 001 0 - 1 4 2
Wahlert      000 000 0 - 0 6 2

W - Eivins. L - Lange. 2B - Olutunde, Hunt, Lange.

Game 2

Jefferson    020 021 0 - 5 11 1
Wahlert      103 011 x - 6 9 3

W - Oglesby. L - Koering. 2B - Neuberger, VanScoyoc, Oglesby 2, Timp, Lange. 3B - VanScoyoc. SB - Tomkins, Frazier, Hunt, Hoffman.