The 2024 Iowa high school state baseball tournament continued Tuesday at both Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids and Merchants Park in Carroll. Find updated scores, stats and complete Gazette area coverage here.
Iowa high school state baseball coverage
» Hlas column: Cedar Rapids feels like a good home for the 3A and 4A tourneys
» 4A quarterfinals: Cedar Rapids Kennedy guts out a win over Pleasant Valley
» 4A quarterfinals: Johnston’s hopes of a 3-peat remain after walk-off win over Waukee Northwest
» 3A quarterfinals: Brevin Hawkinson’s baserunning helps Dubuque Wahlert slip by DeWitt Central
» Brackets: Updated, pairings, schedules and scores for all 4 classes
Tuesday’s Iowa high school state baseball scores
CLASS 3A QUARTERFINALS (CEDAR RAPIDS)
No. 1 Dubuque Wahlert 1, DeWitt Central 0
Dubuque Wahlert’s Brevin Hawkinson has injured hands but his legs work just fine.
Hawkinson entered the game as a courtesy runner for catcher Bode Nagelmaker, who led off the bottom of the seventh with a base hit. J.P. Elbert’s sacrifice bunt moved Hawkinson to second and that’s when his fleet of foot ability impacted the scoreless game.
Brandon cumme*r swung at a pitch low and outside for the third strike. The ball bounced away from the catcher, forcing a throw to first for the second out. Hawkinson waited for the throw and broke for third.
He slid in safely and was Wahlert’s first runner to reach third all game. After a Central meeting on the mound, the first offering to Parker Studtmann skipped in the dirt and past the catcher, allowing Hawkinson to score.
“I saw the ball release from his hand and put my head down,” Hawkinson said. “I ran for third as hard as I could and hoped for the best.
“Heading home, I saw a slow ball into the catcher. Good bounce off the backstop, luckily, and was able to get in there in plenty of time.”
The game was a pitcher’s duel until the end. Wahlert’s Foti Rigopoulos and Central’s Kyle Bixby were the only players to take the mound. Both pitchers stifled opposing batters, allowing seven total hits and only two runners to reach third.
— K.J. Pilcher
» Game story | Photo gallery | Box score
CLASS 4A QUARTERFINALS (CEDAR RAPIDS)
No. 1 Cedar Rapids Kennedy 6, Pleasant Valley 3
Top-ranked Kennedy (34-4) rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and posted a 6-3 comeback victory over the Spartans. The Cougars advance to the state semifinals for the 10th time in school history and the first since 2015.
Grant Mather played a crucial role in the Cougars’ 34th win of the season. He pitched six innings with six strikeouts for the win, improving to 11-1. He also batted 2-for-3 with timely hits that drove in three runs.
Kennedy was in control most of the game but found itself in a hole with two at-bats remaining. Pleasant Valley (20-18) rallied for three in the sixth, receiving a three-run double down the left-field line from Finnley Martinolich.
Leadoff hitter Ty Donels sparked the winning rally with a single. Grawe was walked. Mather came to the plate with one out. He smacked an opposite-field double to left center, bringing in Donels and Grawe to reclaim the lead.
“We feel the hits are going to come,” Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said. “When they come, we have to keep playing. Grant caught a barrel. The pitcher made a little bit of a mistake up in the zone and he made him pay for it.”
A walk and hit batsman loaded the bases again. Jacob Doyle came to the plate and fought off multiple pitches before driving one to the right-field warning track for a sacrifice fly to extend Kennedy’s lead. He was determined to record a quality at-bat.
Mather’s courtesy runner, Jackson Popelka, tagged and scored from third, but that wasn’t all. The right fielder fell after making the catch. Colton Duerling tagged at second and didn’t break stride as Hoyer waved him home, beating the throw and completing a rare two-run sacrifice fly.
— K.J. Pilcher
» Game story | Photo gallery | Box score
No. 4 Johnston 4, No. 8 Waukee Northwest 3
Johnston’s attempt at a Class 4A state championship three-peat remains alive after some late heroics lifted the Dragons past Waukee Northwest.
Mason Tell’s walk-off two-run double to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning allowed the Dragons to survive. Again.
Johnston (34-5) had to go 13 innings to beat Cedar Falls last week in a 4A substate final. Now this.
“We face adversity every single day,” said Johnston’s Will Nuss. “I feel like we’ve learned to deal with it. Especially the past few games. That thriller against Cedar Falls, and now this one. So I feel like we’re learning every single day, no matter who we play or what the situation is.”
— Jeff Johnson
» Game story | Photo gallery | Box score
West Des Moines Dowling 3, No. 2 Dallas Center-Grimes 1
Senior pitcher Trever Baumler was cruising in his West Des Moines Dowling team’s 4A quarterfinal Tuesday night against Dallas Center-Grimes.
Which made the decision to remove him from the game with two outs and none on in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 3-0 Maroons lead a bit peculiar.
Until you really thought about it. The TCU signee threw just 61 pitches, meaning he theoretically would be good to throw again Friday night if Dowling makes the 4A championship game. Iowa High School Athletic Association pitch-count guidelines say he could have thrown up to 65 pitches and still have just a two-day rest before he could go again.
“Staying efficient is huge,” Baumler said after Dowling finished off second-ranked DCG, 3-1. “Staying under 65 pitches was huge. Look, if we win this next ballgame, we’ve got a shot at winning this thing. It’s huge for us, and it’s definitely a momentum game. I love it. Let’s go.”
Baumler regularly hit 92 miles per hour with his fastball. At the plate, he walked twice and had an RBI single for the Maroons (24-15), who scored their other two runs on bases-loaded walks.
Southeastern Community College-bound Keaton Fenn also showed 91-mile-per-hour heat but took the loss, as Dowling was patient at the plate and made him throw over 100 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.
“Honestly the plan of attack every time for me is to go out there and throw strikes, get weak contact and keep the pitch limit low,” said Baumler, who has been taking classes already at TCU and making his way back to Iowa for these big postseason games. “You know, I’ve got a lot of trust in my guys out on the field that they are going to field everything and get outs for me.”
» Photo gallery | Box score
Iowa City High vs. Waukee postponed
The Class 4A quarterfinal game between No. 3 Iowa City High (33-7) and No. 10 Waukee (26-16) was postponed to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday due to a rain delay earlier Tuesday pushing the schedule back.
CLASS 2A QUARTERFINALS (CARROLL)
No. 3 Underwood 3, Unity Christian 1
Chariton 7, Pleasantville 1
No. 8 Sumner-Fredericksburg 6, Wilton 2
No. 6 New Hampton 11, Aplington-Parkersburg 1 (6 innings)
