Metro Sports Report

Play It Again Sports joins MSR Classic

Play It Again Sports of Cedar Rapids has agreed to serve as the title sponsor for the Metro Sports Report boys basketball event that will be held Nov. 30 at Kirkwood Community College.

Play It Again Sports, located in the Town & Country Shopping Center along 1st Avenue SE, is the only locally owned and operated sporting goods store in Cedar Rapids.

Gabe Loesch and his father, Steve Loesch, purchased the company on April 1. They celebrated their Grand Re-Opening last week with more equipment for sale and a new look.

Play It Again Sports features merchandise, equipment and clothes in a wide variety of sports. They are looking to expand even further.

Solid pitching again fuels Saints sweep

As it has all season, Xavier got two stellar pitching performances Wednesday night at home to sweep a doubleheader from Iowa City High, 3-2 and 12-2. The second game was five innings.

What was different this time, though, was that the Saints eked out the first one not only on the strong arm of hurler Mitch Keller, but also his bat.

And fellow pitcher Zach Brown literally sacrificed his back to help pull off the come-from-behind win.

Wyant, Stroschein toss Lions by J-Hawks

Justin Wyant and Austin Stroschein will be leaving for college later this summer and the next step in their baseball careers, but they'd like to help the Linn-Mar Lions make a return trip to the Class 4A state tournament before they leave.

Wyant and Stroschein took steps in that direction with good pitching performances Wednesday night as Linn-Mar swept a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader from Jefferson, 13-7 and 6-3, at the Linn-Mar complex.

Wyant allowed only one run in five innings in the opener in sweltering conditions, then Stroschein went the distance and threw 100 pitches in the nightcap.

Berrios hurls Kernels to 6th straight win

The Cedar Rapids Kernels upped their perfect second half record to 6-0 Wednesday night as they topped the Burlington Bees, 5-2. A crowd of 2,233 fans witnessed the victory at Veterans Memorial Stadium, including the winners of the Kernels’ 2 millionth fan promotion, the Steven Reick family of Solon.

The Reicks won a prize package valued at $3,000 from the Kernels.

For his start against the Bees, Jose Berrios (5-3) broke out a new pair of stirrups that were navy with three white stripes, “for good luck,” according to Berrios after the game. Whether the credit goes to his lucky socks or his $1.55 million arm, Berrios overpowered the Bees hitters for seven innings, striking out nine and giving up just five hits.