Stars end Red Top's IVL reign

WALFORD - The regular-season Iowa Valley League championship has been the exclusive property of Red Top since the summer of 2011.

That all changed here Sunday afternoon as the Fairfax Stars secured the 2017 title after downing Watkins, 5-2, in the second game of a doubleheader.

Watkins got home runs from Jonny Frese and Luke Farley to post a 3-1 win in the opener.

Player/Manager Chico Lizarraga's Stars, with a roster featuring a number of former Cedar Rapids Kennedy standouts, sits at 15-3 with only a 5 p.m. twinbill next Sunday at Norway remaining. Red Top fell back into a tie for second with Norway at 10-8 after being swept by Walford, 8-2 and 15-7, on Sunday in Norway while the Bandits were sweeping a twinbill from Williamsburg.

After clinching the title, the Stars posed for a quick team photo and then celebrated quietly with some cold beverages.

"We've got a good group of veterans and a good bunch of young guys,"  said Lizarraga, who also serves as an assistant coach on Bret Hoyer's staff at Kennedy. "We have a really good chemistry together and that's why I think we came out on top of the league."

The Stars have been a team that has adapted all season. They haven't played a home game all summer in Fairfax. They have played home games at Kennedy and Iowa City West as well as here on Sunday. Lizarraga said the reason for not playing in Fairfax all summer had to do with the field.

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Fairfax clinches tie for IVL title

WILLIAMSBURG - The Fairfax Stars swept a doubleheader from Williamsburg Sunday, 11-1 and 8-1, to clinch at least a tie for the  Iowa Valley League title.

Fairfax raised its record to 14-2 and has a four-game lead over Red Top with four games left in the regular season.

Austin Czerwiec collected his seventh victory of the season with seven strikeouts in the 11-1 victory. Matt Berst, who just finished his all-state career at Kennedy, went 3-for-3 for Fairfax. Cody Williams had two doubles and scored three runs.

Ryan Arp and Cam Frazier had two hits for Williamsburg in the opener.

Jacob Henry had three hits and a double for Fairfax in the second game. Steve Jensen had two hits. Cody Bell was the winning pitcher.

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IVL All-Stars, Red Top to face Hawkeyes

The University of Iowa baseball team will play two games later this month against members of the Iowa Valley League in preparation for their trip to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan.

The Hawkeyes will host the Iowa Valley League All-Stars on Tuesday, July 25 at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City and will host Red Top Sports of the IVL on Thursday, July 27.

The Iowa Valley League All-Stars will be coached by Jim Van Scoyoc, the Hall of Fame coach from Norway who led the school to 12 state titles from 1972 through 1990.

The Hawkeyes will be competing as the USA National Team in the NBC tournament from July 29 through Aug. 6 in Wichita, Kan.

Iowa also will serve as the USA National Team from Aug. 19-30 in Taiwan. The Hawkeyes will host the Quad City Cardinals of the Quad Cities summer baseball league on Aug. 10 in preparation for their trip  to Taiwan.

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Weeks delivers big hit for Red Top

WATKINS - Red Top's Ben Weeks has been in the Iowa Valley League since 2009.

Over those nine seasons, he has had plenty of at-bats against Watkins left-hander Luke Franzenburg.

On Sunday, the two IVL veterans matched up again in the second game of a doubleheader at Gabe Kuester Memorial Ball Park in Watkins.

With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the eighth, Weeks cracked a two-out RBI double off Franzenburg to right-center field, plating Trey Beckman with what proved to be the winning run in a hard-fought 2-1 victory for visiting Red Top to secure a split of the twinbill.

Watkins, behind six strong innings from University of Iowa left-hander Kyle Shimp, took the opener, 4-2.

Weeks, who played in high school at Solon before a collegiate career at Kirkwood and Winona State, said he wasn't looking for any particular pitch from Franzenburg when he came up in the eighth.

"I've played against Luke for quite a few years now, so I'm pretty much in tune with what he throws," Weeks said. "He's still a real tough pitcher and he was throwing a one-run game. I was just up there thinking a hit scores the go-ahead run."

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