Johnston ends Linn-Mar’s magical late-season run in delayed fashion

DES MOINES — Their season was spared for about six hours, as it turned out.

Top-ranked and top-seeded Johnston simply was too much for the Linn-Mar Lions, spotting them the first run but scoring the next seven for a 7-1 win in a rain-delayed Class 4A state baseball tournament quarterfinal Thursday night.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association pushed back first pitch of this one by a lengthy margin, anticipating heavy rain that never really arrived at Principal Park. The teams warmed up and were ready for about a 2:30 start Thursday afternoon but didn't get going until 8:05.

'It was a long delay, it was tough,' said Linn-Mar's Kirby Kerr. 'But there was no way that was going to throw off our focus. We've been playing for this all year.'

'Kids were great all the way through (the delay),' Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said. 'The staff here did the best they could. We appreciate being able to stick around and get a chance to play here on this field ... To play under the lights was pretty special, too. We'd have stayed around as long as they would have let us in order to play here.'

• IHSAA explains lengthy state baseball delay

Linn-Mar (21-19) was 4A's Cinderella, having to win three games just to get here. But a magical run ended ... eventually.

Kerr led off the game with an infield single up the middle, went to third on a Reese Phillips hit-and-run single through the right side, scoring when Johnston right fielder Andrew Nord airmailed an ill-advised throw into the Lions dugout. But Dragons ace pitcher Jack Dreyer gave up only one more baserunner, a walk, before being taken out after five innings of work to conserve pitches for the rest of the tournament.

The left-hander showed not only real good stuff, but real good command of it, walking one and striking out 10.

'After that first inning, my arm started feeling better,' Dreyer said. 'My pitches were working really well. Like I said, our defense made some great plays behind me. I have all the confidence in the world in them, so that makes it easier.'

Meanwhile, Johnston (39-3) got to Linn-Mar starting pitcher Josh Strauss for two runs in the bottom of the first to immediately erase its deficit. Strauss contrarily struggled with his control, walking five and hitting a guy before being removed two batters into the fourth.

Johnston finished with 10 hits, including a double and two triples that one-hopped fences in center and right-center field. Reminder that this is a Triple-A pro ballpark with Triple-A pro ballpark dimensions.

'They're just better than us,' Lechner said. 'They are solid all the way around. Offensively they were just too much for us tonight. All the credit goes to them. They swung it well, just played an all-around good game. They are going to be a hard team to beat for whoever. You're going to have to play a complete, solid game to knock them out.'

This was Lechner's final game as head coach, as he has decided to resign. One game shouldn't define what he and his team accomplished, especially late this season.

'Very satisfying to finish here, with any team that gets a chance to go, but with this being my last year, it was very satisfying,' he said. 'Then with my son (Rylan) on the team, seeing these kids since they were little, it was pretty special to see all of them on this field. You put in all that work, all that time, it's rewarding to see them have a chance to play in this facility.'

No matter how long it took for that to happen.

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