Metro Sports Report

Japan-Metro Classic: Trey Beckman

Trey Beckman learned the hard way that Division I athletics is a business when Nebraska yanked the scholarship he'd been promised to play baseball for the Cornhuskers, but he's overcome the blow and is excited for the future.

Beckman, an all-state outfielder from Cedar Rapids Prairie, will play in the Japan-Metro All-Star Classic Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium and then leave later this month for Wabash Valley Community College.

Wabash Valley is a long way from Nebraska, but Beckman is eager to get started with one of the top junior college baseball programs in the Midwest. He thought he had an iron-clad deal with Nebraska Coach Darin Erstad, but that evaporated.

Beckman accepted an offer from Nebraska when he was a sophomore and quit looking for another place to play. Then the trap-door opened.

"About this time last year Coach Erstad gave me a call and said I have some bad news: 'We over-booked on outfielders and we ended up recruiting too many kids.'"

Kernels sunk by Lake County

EASTLAKE, Ohio - The Lake County Captains scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to snap a 3-3 tie and defeat the Cedar Rapids Kernels, 6-3, before 2,430 fans at Classic Park in Ohio Wednesday afternoon.

Both clubs had only five hits in the game, but the Captains made theirs count.

Tanner English and T.J. White had RBIs for the Kernels. English scored two runs and had two stolen bases, giving him 37 steals for the campaign.

Felix Jorge was touched for three runs in six innings. Jared Wilson (5-4) surrendered all three runs in the eighth inning and took the loss.

Lizarraga will pitch for Hawkeyes

Sammy Lizarraga was all set to pack his bags and leave for Wabash Valley Community College later this month, but then he threw a bunch of 94 mph fastballs in the state tournament and things changed.

A school in the Big 12 Conference offered him a full scholarship, but he didn't want to go there. Another school that has made several trips to the College World Series in recent years came calling, but it didn't work out.

Then Iowa Coach Rick Heller, who has been chasing Lizarraga for quite some time, called and made a substantial offer that made Lizarraga smile from ear to ear on his 6-foot-5 frame.

"I verbally committed to Iowa yesterday morning," the Kennedy all-state pitcher said Tuesday afternoon. "It's really exciting. I'm excited to play DI baseball."

Lizarraga committed to Wabash Valley, a top junior college, after the high school football season last year (he was Kennedy's quarterback) and fully intended to join the team this year as a freshman.

Japan-Metro Classic: David Kuhn

David Kuhn figured his dream of playing baseball in a Minor League stadium ended this summer when the Marion Indians did not reach the state tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines, but the story has a happy ending.

Kuhn enjoyed a terrific year for Coach Steve Fish and the Indians and was invited to play in the IHSCBA all-star series this past weekend at Ashford University Field, home of the Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League.

That went well as his Large Schools East team won the series on Sunday, and now he'll play for the local Metro ballclub in the Japan-Metro All-Star Classic at Veterans Memorial Stadium Thursday night.