Metro Sports Report

Thede leaving Prairie for Mount Vernon

Matt Thede will be leaving his post as the head baseball coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie after this season to become the new athletic director and assistant principal at Mount Vernon High School.

Thede, 36, has compiled a 95-81 record in five years as Prairie's head coach. He just finished his eighth year in the College Community school district as a teacher and coach.

Thede and his wife, Jessica, live in Mount Vernon and have three young children. Jessica Thede teaches at Mount Vernon High School and they live a block from the school.

Thede said his new job will be good for his family and a good move for him professionally. He has regretted not be able to attend his 5-year-old son's baseball games due to his busy schedule with the Prairie baseball team.

Burdi hit 103 on gun at Louisville

Local baseball fans should expect to see some serious gas when Nick Burdi pitches for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the next few days.

Burdi, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, has been popping the radar for quite some time now.

"It was 95-96 in high school," he said Friday after arriving in Cedar Rapids, "and at Louisville I got up to 102-103 this season, but mostly sitting 97 to 99."

That is serious heat, which is why the Minnesota Twins made him the 46th overall pick in the 2014 draft and gave him $1,218,800 to sign on the dotted line.

Kernels Manager Jake Mauer was anxious to get his first look at Burdi in a bullpen session Friday afternoon.

"I've seen him pitch on TV a little bit," said Mauer. "Obviously it looks like he's got a pretty good fastball. He's a big kid. It looks like he's got the potential for a pretty good slider.

No.3 Cougars sweep Linn-Mar

Jimmy Cunningham is the quiet man on the Cedar Rapids Kennedy baseball team.

He's quiet and quietly effective.

Cunningham made a rare appearance on the mound in the nightcap Friday night and got six straight outs as the third-ranked Cougars bopped Linn-Mar, 13-5, on Hall of Fame Night at Herkelman Field.

Kennedy claimed the first game, 5-3, after both clubs waited through a rain delay that last an hour and 45 minutes. The twinbill, scheduled for 5 p.m., began at 6:45 and ended after 11 p.m.

Cunningham had made only two brief appearances on the mound for the Cougars this season, throwing a total of 1.2 innings. But he looked like a seasoned veteran Friday as he tossed two scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh innings.

Kernels snap 4-game losing streak

Cedar Rapids Kernels Manager Jake Mauer was smiling and visibly relieved after his club edged Clinton, 6-5, Friday night to end a four-game losing streak.

“We needed that, we really did,” the skipper said.

Kernels starting pitcher Lewis Thorpe (1-1) struggled in his first four starts for the Kernels since his promotion to the club three weeks ago, but the 18-year-old Australian found his groove against Clinton before 3,456 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Thorpe, who had worked just four innings in each of his previous three starts, gave the Kernels 5.1 innings of strong work.

Mauer was not short of praise for his pitcher.