Jefferson Baseball

Prokop's night for Linn-Mar

It was Corey Prokop's night Monday at Linn-Mar.

Prokop's three-run home run in the opener provided all the offense the Lions needed and his two-out RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning in the nightcap chased home the winning run as Linn-Mar swept a Mississippi Valley Conference baseball doubleheader from Jefferson.

Linn-Mar (9-6, 5-4 MVC) won the opener, 3-1, behind the two-hit pitching of junior Jake Stolley and Prokop's blast. The Lions took the nightcap, 8-7.

"I don't remember the last time we swept Jeff," Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said."Hopefully, that's a stepping stone for our program and we can build on that a little bit."

While Stolley and Jefferson senior Michael Rooney hooked up in a pitchers' duel in the opener, the teams combined for 29 hits in the nightcap. Jeffferson's Jordan McCormick and Bailey Hollingsworth hit home runs and Linn-Mar batters banged out seven doubles, two by Prokop, who finished the night 5-for-7 with six RBIs.

"It was a fastball middle," the diminutive Prokop said of his game-winning blow in the nightcap. "I just wanted to hit it hard."

Linn-Mar appeared to have the sweep wrapped up in the top of the seventh. Southpaw Keaton Blackford came on in a save situation and struck out the first two J-Hawks (5-9, 3-7) he faced.

But Tanner Unkel stroked his second double of the game, Rooney singled him home and Alex Larson's single put the tying run at second base. McCormick then skied a pop up that soared above the level of the lights and Stolley, fresh into the game at first base, dropped it for a run-scoring error. Austin Stroschein relieved Blackford and enticed Drew Striegel to ground out to short to end the inning with the go-ahead run at third base.

"Usually, you make a mistake like that and it comes back to bite you," Lechner said of the dropped pop up. "I'm real proud of our guys and the way they battled back through that.

"It came down to hitting," said Unkel, who had four hits in the nightcap and five for the day. "They had great pitching and we had great pitching. Bailey (Hollingsworth) came in and he threw lights out. There's nothing you can do about that (Prokop) hit."

Hollingsworth, the J-Hawks' fourth pitcher of the game, was tough as nails, striking out seven in 3 2/3 innings. But Travis Kvach beat out a one-out infield single in the hole at short in the bottom of the 10th. After a pop out and with the count 1-1 on Prokop, Kvach broke for second. Prokop launched a long fly ball over the head of Rooney, Jefferson's center fielder. Kvach easily scored.

Lechner said he had only one qualm with the Lions' performance in the opener, and that was a lack of timely hitting that kept the game close. Linn-Mar put up six runs over the first three frames of the nightcap, banging out six of its doubles.

"We had some two-out hits and scored some runs," Lechner said. "Defensively, we did a nice job and our pitchers kept giving us chances and we finally took advantage of one."

Jefferson battled back. McCormick hit a two-run homer in the third and the J-Hawks added two more in the fourth on Unkel's RBI double and Larson's RBI single. Hollingsworth's one-out solo homer in the fifth cut the Linn-Mar lead to 6-5. The J-Hawks had the first two runners on base in the sixth, but failed to get a bunt down and instead grounded into a double play.

"We missed signs, we didn't get the bunt down and we didn't execute when we needed to in those crucial innings for us," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "That's what it really came down to for us."

Stolley pitched exceptionally in the opener, retiring the first nine batters he faced. Unkel's infield single leading off the fourth inning broke up the perfect game and the shutout faded when McCormick laced a 3-0 fastball off the right-field wall for a run-scoring triple.

"I was just trying to throw a strike and I left it a little high," Stolley said. "Earlier in the season I wasn't pitching so well, I just finally got in a groove. I got a spot and I threw where I was supposed to. There was nothing different. I just felt good."

Stolley got all the backing he needed when Prokop lofted a first-pitch fastball over the left-field fence with one out in the second inning.

"I thought it was a fly ball, but it carried," Prokop, a senior, said of his first high school home run. "I think it was my first home run since fourth grade."

Jefferson plays at Des Moines East on Tuesday. Linn-Mar plays Washington in the completion of a suspended game Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Washington. The J-Hawks and Lions play a nonconference JV-varsity doubleheader Thursday at Jefferson.

GAME 1

JEFFERSON (1)

Tanner Unkel, 2b, 2 0 1 0, Michael Rooney, p, 3 0 0 0, Dylan Jellison, cr, 0 1 0 0, Alex Larson, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Drew Striegel, c, 1 0 0 0, Aaron Gruwell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Ky Kramer, ss, 2 0 0 0, Jordan Dee, ph, 1 0 0 0, Bailey Hollingsworth, rf, 3 0 0 0, Drake Vanous, lf, 2 0 0 0, Christian Knox, cf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 23 1 2 1.

LINN-MAR (3)

Aaron Hunter, lf, 3 0 0 0, Ben Larison, ss, 3 0 0 0, Michael Redmond, cf, 2 0 1 0, Jordan Stroschein, rf, 3 0 0 0, Jeremy Danover, c, 3 0 0 0, Austin Stroschein, 3b, 2 1 0 0, Keaton Blackford, 1b, 2 1 2 0, Corey Prokop, 2b, 2 1 2 3, Mitch Stickney, dh, 2 0 0 0, Jake Stolley, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 22 3 5 3.

Jefferson   000 100 0 - 1 2 1
Linn-Mar    030 000 x - 3 5 0

Rooney and Striegel. Stolley and Danover. W-Stolley. L-Rooney. 3B-McCormick. HR-Prokop (1). SB-Hunter 2, Redmond.

GAME 2

JEFFERSON (7)
Unkel, 2b, 6 2 4 1, Rooney, cf, 6 1 2 1, Larson, 3b, 6 1 3 1, McCormick, 1b, 5 1 2 2, Jellsion, pr, 0 0 0 0, Striegel, c, 3 0 0 0, Dee, p, 1 0 0 0, Colten Jourdan, p, 2 0 0 0, Austin Goodell, p-rf, 1 0 0 0, Gruwell, pr, 0 0 0 0, Knox, lf, 1 0 0 0, Kramer, ss, 5 0 1 0, Chance Tiedtke, ph, 1 0 0 0, Hollingsworth, rf-p, 5 1 1 1, Vanous, lf-rf, 3 1 1 0. Totals 45 7 14 6.

LINN-MAR (8)
Hunter, cf, 5 1 1 0, Prokop, 2b-3b, 5 2 3 3, Larison, ss, 5 0 2 0, J.Stroschein, rf-p, 3 1 1 1, Ryan Sturenfeldt, cr-pr, 0 1 0 0, Danover, c, 5 1 1 0, A.Stroschein, 3b-p, 5 0 2 1, Blackford, 1b-p, 5 0 1 0, Kevin Bogert, lf-rf, 4 2 1 1, Travis Kvach, dh, 5 1 3 1, Nate Greve, p, 0 0 0 0, Casey Brown, p, 0 0 0 0, Stolley, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Eric Bohr, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Stickney, lf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 42 8 15 7.

Jefferson  002 210 200 0 -  7  14  3
Linn-Mar   213 001 000 1  -  8  15  3
(Two outs when winning run scored)

Jordan Dee, Colten Jourdan (3), Austin Goodell (6), Bailey Hollingsworth (7) and Drew Striegel. Nate Greve, Casey Brown (5), Keaton Blackford (7), Austin Stroschein (7), Jordan Stroschein (10) and Jeremy Danover. W-J.Stroschein. L-Hollingsworth. 2B-Unkel 2, Hunter, Prokop 2, J.Stroschein, Danover, Blackford, Kvach. HR-McCormick, Hollingsworth. SB-Unkel, Prokop, Bogert.

J-Hawks split with Cedar Falls

CEDAR FALLS -- Michael Rooney's two-out, two-run single keyed a five-run rally in the seventh inning of the nightcap that cemented a split for Jefferson against Cedar Falls in a Mississippi Valley Conference baseball doubleheader Friday night.

Jefferson dropped the opener 4-1 but came back to take the nightcap, 8-1. Chance Tiedtke tossed a complete game two-hitter for the J-Hawks (5-7, 3-5) in the nightcap. Rooney and Jordan McCormick were 2-for-4.

Jefferson scored a pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning to take a 3-1 lead. The J-Hawks had five hits and were helped by six Cedar Falls errors.

Alex Larson and Tanner Unkel were 2-for-4 in the opener. Larson started at pitcher and took the loss.

Andrew Kloos scattered eight hits, walked one and struck out two in the opener for Cedar Falls (3-5, 4-9). Kloos worked out of jams in the sixth and seventh innings, leaving the bases loaded to end the game.

GAME 1

JEFFERSON (1)

Larson, p, 4 0 2 1, Dee, 1b, 4 0 1 0, Unkel, 2b, 4 0 2 0, Striegel, c, 3 0 1 0, Rooney, cf, 2 0 0 0, Tiedtke, ss, 3 0 0 0, Goodell, rf, 3 0 1 0, Knox, lf, 3 0 0 0, Techau, 3b, 2 1 1 0, Schmidt, p, 1 0 0 0. Totals 29 1 8 1.

CEDAR FALLS (4)

Gallu, cf, 3 1 3 0, Hagarty, ss, 3 1 3 2, Schwickerath, dh, 2 0 1 1, Klinehart, 1b, 1 0 0 0, Zwanziger, rf, 1 1 0 0, Doyle, lf, 3 0 1 0, Daniels, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Creger, 3b, 3 0 1 0, Sole, c, 3 0 1 0, Kloos, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 22 4 10 3.

Jefferson   001 000 0 - 1 8 1
Cedar Falls  003 001 x - 4 9 1
Alex Larson, Jake Schmidt (5) and Drew Striegel. Andrew Kloos and JT Sole. W-Kloos. L-Larson. 2B-Larson, Jake Gallu, Jordan Doyle. SB-Unkel.

GAME 2

JEFFERSON (8)

Unkel, 2b, 4 1 0 0, Rooney, cf, 4 0 1 2, Larson, 3b, 3 1 1 1, McCormick, 1b, 3 2 2 1, Striegel, c, 3 1 1 1, Kramer, ss, 2 0 0 0, Hollingsworth, rf, 0 0 0 1, Tiedtke, p, 3 1 1 0, Knox, lf, 3 0 1 0, Dee, ph, 1 0 0 0, Jellison, cr, 0 0 0 0. Totals 26 8 6 6.

CEDAR FALLS (1)

Gallu, cf, 3 1 0 0, Hagarty, ss, 2 0 0 0, Schwickerath, dh, 3 0 1 0, Klinehart, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Zwanziger, rf, 3 0 0 0, Doyle, lf, 1 0 0 0, Daniels, 2b, 2 0 0 0, Creger, 3b, 1 0 0 0, Sole, c, 2 0 1 0, Kuntz, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 21 1 2 0.

Jefferson   100 020 5 - 8 5 1
Cedar Falls  100 000 0 - 1 2 6
Chance Tiedtke and Striegel. Michael Kuntz, Gallu (5), Brady Zwanziger (5) and Sole. 2B-Jordan McCormick.

Clutch hitting and pitching send J-Hawks past PV

RIVERDALE - Jordan Dee scattered five hits over six innings, Jefferson backed him with some timely two-out hits and the J-Hawks beat Pleasant Valley, 5-2, Tuesday in a nonconference baseball game at Pleasant Valley High School.

Jefferson (4-6) had eight hits. Dee and Alex Larson had two each. The J-Hawks stranded 12 runners -- nine in scoring position -- but came up with three key two-out hits that plated runs.

Michael Rooney's two-out, two-strike RBI single in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie and put the J-Hawks ahead to stay. Larson followed with a two-run double. Drew Striegel's two-out RBI single in the sixth plated an insurance run.

"That's what wins games, right there," Rooney said of the two-out hits. "It's something we've been preaching about in practice. We came through today and we came out on top."

Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said he made a special point of talking about two-strike hitting after the J-Hawks lost a pair of games at Iowa City High on Monday night.

"That's a weakness of ours, 0-2 hitting," Kuba said. "We've been doing a lot of rounds of 0-2 hitting. Hopefully, it pays off for us."

Larson, a senior playing his first season for Jefferson after transferring from Kennedy, said he thinks the J-Hawks finally got some of the breaks they haven't been getting.

"We've been hitting the ball hard, we just haven't been getting those key hits and stringing them together," he said. "We've had some unlucky bounces or hitting right at someone, so it's nice to get one that pieces it all together."

That included on the mound, where Dee kept the Pleasant Valley (7-3) hitters off balance by painting the corners with strikes and slipping in an occasional changeup. He struck out the first three batters of the game, two on changeups. He fanned only one more batter, but had the Spartans beating the ball into the ground. He also walked only one. Both runs off him were unearned.

"The biggest thing for me was since the curveball wasn't locating for a strike, I kept the ball low so they couldn't pull it," said Dee, who notched his first varsity pitching victory. "They rolled over a lot of groundballs."

Kuba said Dee's performance was clutch for the J-Hawks, who used four pitchers against City High and have three games remaining this week.

"He did a great job of keeping the ball down," Kuba said. "That's a pretty hefty hitting team, 1 through 7, and we knew they were going to put the ball in play. We knew our pitchers had to keep the ball down and really locate."

Larson pitched the seventh inning and picked up the save.

Jefferson hosts Davenport West on Wednesday night. The J-Hawks play a doubleheader at Cedar Falls on Friday.

"We've been up-and-down all year," Rooney said. "It feels good to play well. Hopefully, we can take this momentum into the rest of the week and finish the week off well. We could use a little run here to get going."

JEFFERSON (5)
Tanner Unkel, 2b, 3 2 1 0, Michael Rooney, cf, 3 1 1 1, Alex Larson, 3b-p, 4 0 2 2, Aaron Gruwell, pr, 0 1 0 0, Jordan Dee, p, 3 0 2 0, Hunter Scott, pr, 0 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Drew Striegel, c, 3 0 1 1, Drake Vanous, cr, 3 0 1 1, Ky Kramer, ss, 3 0 0 0, Bailey Hollingsworth, rf, 3 0 0 0, Jake Schmidt, rf, 1 0 0 0, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 3 0 1 0, Christian Knox, lf, 4 1 0 0. Totals 30 5 8 4.

PLEASANT VALLEY (2)
Blake Wilson, c, 4 0 1 0, LJ Redmond, cr, 0 0 0 0, Cory Clark, cf, 4 0 1 0, Casey Addelia, ss, 4 0 0 0, Craig Ralston, rf, 3 1 0 0, David Conway, 3b-2b, 2 1 2 0, Ben Trewyn, p-3b, 2 0 1 1, Brady Hanna, dh-p, 3 0 0 1, Jordan Kinning, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Brock Neuhaus, p, 0 0 0 0, Brandon Sheeder, lf, 3 0 1 0, Trent Kress, 1b, 2 0 0 0, Brayden Weinschenk, pr, 0 0 0 0. Totals 27 2 6 2.

Jefferson           100 301 0 -- 5  8  2
Pleasant Valley   010 001 0 -- 2  6  2

Dee, Larson (7) and Striegel. Trewyn, Neuhaus (3), Hanna (7) and Wilson. W - Dee. L - Neuhaus. Sv - Larson.
2B - Larson, McCormick, Clark, Conway.

Late rally not enough; J-Hawks drop 2

IOWA CITY - Jefferson baseball coach Mike Kuba has confidence in his team’s ability to score runs in bunches.

“These guys usually find a way to pump it up at least one inning,” Kuba said.

The J-Hawks had their one inning Monday, but it wasn't enough.

Despite turning a sure blowout into a close game in the opener, Jefferson was swept by Iowa City High in a baseball doubleheader at Mercer Park. City High won the first game 9-8 and the nightcap 9-2.

The J-Hawks were down 8-1 in the seventh inning of the opener, but did not throw in the towel.

Drew Streigel had a bases-loaded double to score three runs that brought the J-Hawks within 8-7, and they knotted the score on Michael Rooney's sacrifice fly.

In the bottom half of the seventh, however, City High’s Tyler Stika hit an RBI single that plated Sam Mrstik for the game winner, negating Jefferson’s big inning.

“We just have to get more consistent innings, one through six,” said Kuba.

City High brought out the bats again in the second game, collecting 11 hits and scoring nine runs. Mrstik pitched six strong innings, holding Jefferson to two runs, and collected four RBIs at the plate.

“Our pitching has to get to the point where it keeps us in the games more often," Kuba said. "We got some good innings out of a lot of our pitchers, but staying out of that big inning is important.”

Jefferson had some bright spots at times, but Kuba reiterated the importance of being consistent.

“Obviously it was good to see from a coaching standpoint that they flipped the switch and didn’t give up, that’s just the mental makeup of this team, but we just have to get more consistent,” he said.

Consistency will be crucial. The J-Hawks visit Pleasant Valley on Tuesday in a JV-varsity matchup at 3 p.m.

GAME 1

JEFFERSON (8)

Tanner Unkel, 2b, 4 2 1 1, Drew Striegel, c, 4 1 2 3, Michael Rooney, p, 4 0 0 1, Jordan Dee, 1b, 4 1 3 0, Ky Kramer, ss, 4 0 1 0, Jake Schmidt, rf, 3 1 1 1, Colten Jourdan, 1 0 0 0, Austin Goodell, lf, 4 1 1 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 3 1 0 0, Christian Knox, cf, 3 1 0 0.  Totals 34 8 9 6.

CITY HIGH (9)
Brent Hamm, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Josh Crosby, dh, 4 2 2 0, Adam Prybil, 1b, 4 3 2 3, Connor Alberhasky, p, 4 1 1 1, Sam Mrstik, ss, 4 1 1 1, John Hartley, lf, 4 1 1 0, Ryan Duncan, cf, 4 1 2 2, Tyler Stika, c, 4 0 1 1, Nate Winegarden, rf, 2 0 0 0, Grant Simpson, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Nick Dildine, 1 0 0 0. Totals 35 9 10 8.

Jefferson 100 000 7  -  8  9  0
City High  501 020 1  -  9 10 0

Rooney, Jourdan (4), Hollingsworth (7) and Striegel. Alberhasky, Duncan (4), Simpson (7), Duncan (7) and Stika. W -- Duncan. L – Hollingsworth
2B- Dee 2, Striegel, Crosby, Duncan 2.  HR – Prybil. SB- Dee, Prybil.

GAME 2

JEFFERSON (2)
Unkel, 2b, 4 0 1 0, Rooney, cf, 4 1 1 1, Alex Larson, 3b, 3 0 1 1, Bailey Hollingsworth, rf, 3 0 0 0, Dee, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Striegel, dh, 3 0 1 0, Jordan McCormick, p, 2 0 0 0, Drake Vanous, rf, 1 0 1 0, Chance Tiedtke, ss, 3 1 0 0, Knox, lf, 3 0 1 0.  Totals 29 2 6 1.

CITY HIGH (9)
Hamm, 3b, 4 1 1 0, Crosby, dh, 4 3 3 3, Prybil, 1b, 4 2 1 0, Alberhasky, ss, 4 1 2 2, Mrstik, p, 4 0 2 4, Hartley, lf, 4 0 1 0, Duncan, cf, 3 0 0 0, Grant Simpson, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Stika, 3 2 1 0.  Totals 33 9 11 9.

Jefferson  002 000 0 --   2  6  1
City High  004 203 x  --  9  11 1

McCormick, Hollingsworth (3) and Jourdan. Mrstik, Duncan (7) and Stika. W – Mrstik L – McCormick.
2B- Hamm, Crosby, Alberhasky 2. 3B- Mrstik. HR- Crosby. SB- Rooney, Dee, Striegel 2.