Metro Sports Report

Davenport West ousts Linn-Mar

DAVENPORT - If anyone can appreciate the strike zone as a batter, it's a pitcher.

Davenport West's Thomas Dorton used that to his advantage in his first at-bat with the bases loaded in the first inning Friday.

Dorton fought back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk for the Falcons' first run and helped sparked West to four more runs in the inning. It helped West to an eventual 5-2 victory over Linn-Mar in a Class 4A first-round substate game at the Falcons' complex.

West (26-6) advances to host Bettendorf in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Monday.

"I just had to foul (pitches) off and just try and get on base," Dorton said of his first at-bat. "The (umpire) had a pretty tight strike zone so I kind of knew where the balls and strikes were.

"I kind of knew it was coming. It's 10 times better as a pitcher because you know where everything is at."

Linn-Mar starting pitcher Ryan Wyant got the first two outs of the inning but the Falcons strung together three straight singles to load the bases when Dorton came up. He took a strike, then fouled a pitch off. Then Wyant suddenly could not find the zone.

After Dorton forced a run in with his walk, teammate Kyle Verdon took the same selective approah. Wyant walked him on five pitches to give West a 2-0 lead.

"We got (Wyant) frustrated and that's the point," Dorton said.

The Falcons then got some help from shaky defense by the Lions (16-22).

Cannoy tosses 2-hitter for Marion

EPWORTH - Quinn Cannoy pitched a two-hit shutout Friday night as the Marion Indians blanked Dubuque Wahlert, 4-0, in the opening round of the Class 3A district tournament.

The Indians (23-15) will face Western Dubuque in the district finals Monday at 7 p.m. in Epworth.

Marion grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a bases-loaded walk by Christian Stekl.

The Indians made it 2-0 in the second inning. David Kuhn led off with a single and scored on an RBI single by Logan Fuller.

Marion took a 4-0 advantage in the third inning. John Carstenson hit a double to drive in pinch-runner Owen Carstensen. Trevor Hardman knocked in Carstenson with a single.

Kuhn had three hits for Marion. Carstenson had two hits.

Marion     112 000 0 - 4 10 1

Wahlert    000 000 0 - 0 2 2

W - Cannoy. L - Pemsl.

Streaking Kernels win in 11th

It took the Cedar Rapids Kernels two extra frames to do it, but after 11 innings of baseball Friday night they had a coveted sweep of their three-game series with the Lake County Captains.

The Kernels topped Lake County, 6-5, in walk-off fashion in front of 3,642 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium when Logan Wade scored from third base on a ground ball by Mitch Garver.

Captains third baseman Grant Fink elected to try to throw Wade out at the plate, rather than turn a potential inning-ending double play. Fink’s throw was on target, but plate umpire Tyler Olson called Wade safe on a close play and the Kernels had their win.

“The umpire said, ‘Safe,’ so he’s safe,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. “We had several chances to win that game, but a win’s a win and we’ll take it."

Stewart shines for surging Kernels

Cedar Rapids pitcher Kohl Stewart says he learned a valuable lesson when an umpire kicked him out of a Midwest League game here July 5th for mouthing off.

"As hard as it is to say, I think that needed to happen," Stewart said Thursday night. "I deserved to get thrown out.

"He threw me out and I had to sit there and own it and man up to it. It won't happen again, that's for sure."

Stewart has won two straight games for the surging Kernels since he lasted only 2.2 innings against Beloit July 5 before getting the heave-ho for making an unacceptable remark to the home-plate umpire.

He tossed five shutout innings Thursday as Cedar Rapids trimmed Lake County, 4-3, before 2,413 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium to reach the .500 mark for the second half of the season.