Kennedy Baseball

Lizarraga has D-I coaches buzzing

Sammy Lizarraga's phone has been ringing following his sensational performance at the Class 4A state baseball tournament Wednesday night in Des Moines.

Lizarraga struck out 14 batters with a 94 mph fastball and a crackling curveball as the sixth-ranked Kennedy Cougars trimmed Davenport North, 3-2, in the quarterfinals at Principal Park.

Lizarraga, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, has signed with Wabash Valley College in Mt. Carmel, Ill., and plans to enroll at the junior college in a few weeks, but some big-time NCAA Division I programs are making a late pitch to see if he'll change his mind.

"Kansas State called me last week and they called me again last night," Lizarraga said Thursday afternoon. "And then I got call from Coach (Eric) Snider at Louisville last night."

Snider, who played at Northern Iowa, is an assistant coach at Louisville following a long stint at Illinois.

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Lizarraga sparkles as Cougars win for Herk

DES MOINES - A traumatic few days for the Cedar Rapids Kennedy baseball team ended with a magnificent performance by Sammy Lizarraga at the Class 4A state tournament Wednesday night.

Lizarraga sizzled on the mound with 14 strikeouts and the Cougars made a heart-felt tribute to Bill "Herk" Herkelman with a tense 3-2 victory over Davenport North at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Kennedy (30-11) will face Iowa City West (33-11) in the semifinals Friday night at 7:30.

The emotional week for the Cougars began last Wednesday night with an 18-1 victory over Cedar Falls in the substate finals. Two days later, they learned the horrible news that Herkelman - their beloved 77-year-old assistant coach - had died after suffering a stroke.

All the Cougars attended Herkelman's funeral service on Tuesday, then got on the bus Wednesday and traveled to Des Moines for the state tournament.

"The last week has been like a roller-coaster," said Lizarraga. "It's been an emotional week for all of us. We're on a high right now and we plan on keeping it that way."

Lizarraga tossed a three-hitter with a blazing fastball and sharp breaking ball. He just missed matching the all-time record of 15 strikeouts in a state tournament game, shared by six pitchers.

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Cougars carry Herk's No. 29 to state

The Kennedy Cougars bid their final farewell to Bill Herkelman on Tuesday at the funeral service for their beloved assistant coach, but they'll carry Herk's jersey No. 29 with them onto the field at the Class 4A state baseball tournament Wednesday at Principal Park in Des Moines.

All of the Kennedy players have new practice T-shirts for the state tournament and all the shirts have Herkelman's No. 29 on the back in big numbers. So when the Cougars take the field for pre-game drills Wednesday, there will be several dozen No. 29's all over the place.

The Cougars will then wear their special T-shirts under their game jerseys for their Class 4A quarterfinal matchup against Davenport North at 5 p.m.

All of the Cougars, including head coach Bret Hoyer and his assistants, wore their new shirts to the funeral service for Herkelman on Tuesday at the Faith Lutheran Church in Marion. Herkelman, 77, died Friday after suffering a stroke last Thursday.

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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.