Jefferson Baseball

5 Metro players picked for all-star games

Five baseball players from Metro high schools have been selected to play in the 2015 IHSBCA All-Star Series that will be held Aug. 6-9 in Clinton.

Zach Daniels of Kennedy, Sammy Lizarraga of Kennedy, Lucas Larson of Jefferson, David Kuhn of Marion and Trey Beckman of Prairie will play for the Large Schools East Squad in the series, which is sponsored by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.

The team will play games against Large Schools West, Small Schools East and Small Schools West.

Marion High School Coach Steve Fish will serve as the head coach for Large Schools East.

The games will be played at Ashford University Field, the home of the Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League.

IHSAA needs to fix 4A substates

When I'm the new king of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the first thing we're going to do is fix the Class 4A substate baseball tournaments.

It's long overdue.

This business of awarding second-round byes has to end. And this business of spreading the substate tournaments over six days has to end as well to prevent teams from riding a stud pitcher all the way to the state tournament.

As it stands now, a No. 1 seed can win an opening-round game on Friday with its star pitcher, draw a second-round bye on Monday and come back with its star pitcher in the substate finals on Wednesday with plenty of rest.

Baseball is a team game and should showcase an entire pitching staff, not just one guy.

We also have to change the system so we don't put Cedar Rapids Prairie and Iowa City West, two of the best teams in our area, in the same substate. Both of those teams deserve a clean shot at making the state tournament, but that won't happen this year because they're likely to meet in the substate finals Wednesday night and one of them will be eliminated.

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No. 3 J-Hawks shocked by North Scott

Invaders from Pluto, unhappy with the United States for spying on their planet, kidnapped the Cedar Rapids Jefferson baseball team Friday night and took their spot on the field against North Scott.

It was not a pretty sight.

The third-ranked J-Hawks played one of their worst games of the season and were shocked by North Scott, 11-8, in the opening round of the Class 4A substate baseball tournament at Jefferson.

The imposter from Pluto who wore Spencer VanScoyoc's jersey was knocked out of the box in the second inning and charged with seven runs.

The imposters who played defense for Jefferson committed five errors.

There were six walks, three wild pitches, two passed balls and a balk.

Jefferson entered the game with a 29-8 record, favored to make the state tournament for the first time since 1998. North Scott arrived at the Jefferson field with a 17-20 record, including a 6-1 loss to the J-Hawks during the regular season.

"It's not very often a 6-seed beats a 1-seed, but we have one goal this year and it's to go to state. We're still alive," said North Scott Coach Brad Hanna.

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J-Hawks can clinch title at home

CEDAR FALLS - Whoever coined the phrase "You can't go home again" never met Kyle Rodenkirk.

Rodenkirk returned to his alma mater as the head baseball coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson three years ago and has the J-Hawks on the verge of winning their first Mississippi Valley Conference title in 10 years.

The second-ranked J-Hawks split an MVC twinbill at Cedar Falls Friday and can clinch the Mississippi Division championship Monday night when they host Hempstead in the final conference games of the season.

Jefferson could have clinched a tie for the title Friday night by sweeping Cedar Falls, but the Hawks are still in good shape.

"Like I told these guys, we control our own destiny," Rodenkirk said after the split. "The ball is in our court. We can either slam-dunk it home or we can dribble it off our foot."

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