The 2024 Iowa high school state baseball tournament continued Wednesday at both Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids and Merchants Park in Carroll. Find all the scores, stats and area coverage below.
Iowa high school state baseball coverage
» 3A semifinals: Small things make a big difference in North Polk’s win over Marion
» 3A semifinals: A team of destiny? Sioux City Heelan might be it
» 4A quarterfinals: Iowa City High scratches out a 2-0 win over Waukee
» Hlas column: Cedar Rapids feels like a good home for the 3A and 4A tourneys
» Brackets: Updated, pairings, schedules and scores for all 4 classes
Wednesday’s Iowa high school state baseball scores
CLASS 4A QUARTERFINALS (CEDAR RAPIDS)
No. 3 Iowa City High 2, No. 10 Waukee 0
The third-ranked Little Hawks scratched out two runs in the fifth, while Jaxton Schroeder and Jake Mitchell combined for a shutout.
“A big team performance there,” Schroeder said. “Defense made a lot of big plays in clutch situations that we needed. We put the runs up that we needed, so we got the job done.”
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth. Ray Nugent pinch hit for Owen Hicks and lined a single to right field. Jake Mitchell drew a two-out walk, bringing Schroeder to the plate.
Sorensen jammed Schroeder and forced a short pop up in an inconvenient spot in front of the charging second baseman and the mound, where Sorensen was sprinting out to make a diving, over-the-shoulder attempt. The ball bounced out of his glove and rolled toward the outfield.
Hicks, who had re-entered to run for Nugent, was waved in to score with Mitchell advancing to third.
“It’s just baseball,” Schroeder said. “We’re really just trying to compete. If you put balls in play, good things are going to happen. That’s just how the game works.”
— K.J. Pilcher
» Game story | Photo gallery | Box score
CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS (CEDAR RAPIDS)
No. 4 Sioux City Heelan 6, No. 1 Dubuque Wahlert 3
They got foiled by a unique trick play, gave up the lead late because of it.
But the Sioux City Heelan Crusaders shook that off and produced some late magic of their own to advance to the Class 3A state baseball championship game.
Heelan held a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the sixth, when what had been a pretty conventional game turned whacky. Wahlert, which had nothing going offensively, used a walk and hit batter to form a rally.
A two-out Bode Nagelmaker single scored a run to make it a 3-2 game, and a wild pitch moved runners to second and third. Nagelmaker’s courtesy runner at second base then started running toward occupied third, stopping two-thirds of the way there and retreating, drawing a catcher’s throw.
The runner at third (Foti Rigopoulos) then bolted for the plate, sliding home safely when the return throw from second was up the line and late.
Heelan responded with two singles, two walks, a wild pitch and a throwing error past first base on a back-pick attempt by Wahlert’s catcher to score three seventh-inning runs and break the tie.
This is the 20th state tournament appearance for Heelan, which seeks its first championship since 2004.
— Jeff Johnson
» Game story | Photo gallery | Box score
No. 3 North Polk 2, No. 2 Marion 1
The Comets capitalized on scoring chances in the fourth and fifth innings. Drew Owen was plunked to lead off the fourth and advanced on Reggie Postel’s single. Isaac Zoske’s sacrifice bunt moved Owen to third and allowed him to score the game’s first run on Reece Wrage’s groundout to second.
Chase Fjelland and Charlie Bunkers walked and Brayden Foster singled to load the bases with none out. Pinch-hitter Ethan Sanger delivered a liner to left field for an RBI single and the eventual game-winning run.
“It’s just about execution,” Fish said. “It was that tight of a game. We knew it was going to be that type of a game. They just did a little better than we did on some bunting, key hits (and) all that stuff. It just came down to a real small thing.”
Cook pitched six innings for the win, giving up four hits. Owen earned the save, striking out the side in the seventh.
“They’re a great hitting team,” Cook said. “We knew we were going to be up for a fight. Just trusting my stuff and mixing up the pitches to keep them off balance and throwing strikes. Let my defense do the work.”
The Wolves had their moments in the middle innings but couldn’t muster that well-placed hit or move runners. They stranded runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, left six runners on base and had a runner doubled off base to end the third.
“We couldn’t string hits together,” Marion junior Jake Miller said. “That’s baseball. It happens.
“The game is about failure. We can learn from this, come back next year and take it all.”
— K.J. Pilcher
» Game story | Photo gallery | Box score
CLASS 1A SEMIFINALS (CARROLL)
No. 4 Remsen St. Mary’s 7, No. 3 Mason City Newman 4 (14 innings)
St. Mary’s scored three times in the top of the 14th to prevail in the longest game in state tournament history. Braxton Kneip’s RBI single provided the go-ahead run and Brady Koenck tacked on a two-run single.
St. Mary’s took the lead in the fifth (1-0), sixth (3-1), and seventh (4-3) innings, only for Newman to tie it each time, forcing extras on Cal McGuire’s two-out RBI single in the seventh.
Just to extend the game even more, rain delayed play 55 minutes in the ninth.
No. 5 Lynnville-Sully 4, No. 1 Akron-Westfield 0
Carson Maston tallied 12 strikeouts and pitched a complete-game shutout, the Hawks’ fifth consecutive shutout in postseason play.
Maston allowed only five singles and three walks and his first-inning sacrifice fly provided the only run support he needed. Corder Noun Harder launched a solo homer in the fifth to make it 4-0.
Lynnville-Sully hasn’t given up a run since the sixth inning of its first substate game.
