Metro Sports Report

Farmer hands Kernels 4th loss in row

The $4.5 million bonus baby pitched fairly well for the Cedar Rapids Kernels Friday night, but the $225,000 college kid pitched better for West Michigan.

Buck Farmer struck out 11 batters and allowed only two hits as the Whitecaps handed the Kernels their fourth straight defeat, 5-2, before 1,346 fans on a mild night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Kohl Stewart had a solid outing for Cedar Rapids, allowing only two runs in five innings, but he absorbed his first loss in the Midwest League when the Kernels had trouble mounting an attack.

A year ago, Farmer was a senior at Georgia Tech and Stewart was a senior in high school. Farmer might be slightly ahead of Stewart as a professional pitcher at this point, but Farmer is 23 years old and the 19-year-old Stewart is a millionaire.

Stewart sailed through the first three innings Friday, but was touched for three hits - including two doubles - and two runs in the fourth inning.

"I left a couple of balls up," he said. "I got behind a couple of times in the count to those guys in the fourth inning. But overall, yeah, I felt good."

Jenks, Evans lead Metro parade to Drake

Linn-Mar distance stars Stephanie Jenks and Josh Evans are poised to leave their mark on the Drake Relays again next week.

Jenks, a sophomore, is seeded first in the 1500 meter run, first in the 3000 meter run and second in the 800. She won the 1500 and 3000 at Drake last year as a freshman.

Evans, a senior, is seeded first in the 3200, third in the 1600 and 10th in the 800. He and his teammates are seeded No.1 in the 4x800 relay and the sprint medley, with Evans the anchor on both relays when they ran their best times.

Evans set a meet record at the Drake Relays last year when he captured the 1600 in 4 minutes, 10.86 seconds. He also finished second in the 3200.

Merced stars as KCC sweeps twinbill

CRESTON - Angel Merced went 7-for-11 and drove in six runs Friday as the Kirkwood Eagles swept an ICCAC doubleheader from Southwestern, 12-2 and 17-15, in Creston.

Merced was 4-for-5 with two RBIs in the first game. He continued his hot hitting by going 3-for-6 with four more RBIs in the nightcap.

Kirkwood (22-11, 7-7) pounded out 15 hits in both games.

Zach Patterson, Eric Schenck-Joblinske, Nick Jones and Randy Perez had two hits in the first game. Schenck-Joblinske collected a double, triple and two RBIs. Cale Henke struck out 11 batters in seven innings for the victory.

Patterson, Sulliam Rios Reyes and Schenck-Joblinske - the top three batters in the lineup - combined to score 10 runs in the second game.

Perez went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Shawn Hagarty was 3-for-4 and scored three times. Patterson had two more hits.

Snakebit Kohawks drop pair at Central

PELLA - The baseball gods have been unkind to the Coe Kohawks this season.

The Kohawks have lost eight one-run games this year after dropping a pair of Iowa Conference squeakers at Central College Friday, 2-1 and 5-4.

Coe committed three errors in the opener and both of Central's runs in the ballgame were unearned. Connor Alberhasky (2-4) was the hard-luck loser, allowing six hits in six innings.

AJ Reuter went 2-for-3 for the Kohawks in the first game.

Jack Hoffmann's three-run double helped Coe take a 4-3 leading into the bottom of the eighth inning in the second game, but Central scored two runs in the frame and held on for the victory. Michael Goerdt went 2-for-4 for the Kohawks.

Coe's records fell to 11-17 overall and 7-13 in the league. Central raised its marks to 18-11 and 10-8.