Iowa City High wins crosstown rivalry with a state baseball tournament appearance at stake

IOWA CITY — Jake Mitchell was looking for one pitch.

With the bases loaded, two outs and his team ahead 1-0 in the second inning, the Iowa City High senior was at bat and looking for a fastball on the outer half of home plate.

He got it.

“I got that pitch and I took advantage,” Mitchell said after his two-run single propelled the Class 4A third-ranked Little Hawks to a 3-1 win over Iowa City West in a prep baseball substate final Wednesday night at Mercer Park. “Smoked it right up the middle. Got the crowd going and it fired me up. Fired us all up.”

Thanks to a pair of strong pitching performances from City High juniors Talon Young and Jaxton Schroeder, the early three-run advantage held up. Smith allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings pitched, while Schroeder – typically a starting pitcher for the Little Hawks – took the mound in relief and retired all seven batters he faced, which included five strikeouts.

“I have no problem with it,” Schroeder said of the occasional relief appearance. “I am just going to do what I do. I am going to come in, I’m going to attack them. I am just going to let my stuff work and trust my defense.”

City High figured runs would be tough to come by against West left-handed starting pitcher Kyle Cherry, who entered the game with six wins and an earned run average of less than three runs per game.

"We faced him already three times and we just had to get his pitch count up,” Mitchell said. "We did eventually get him out in the sixth (inning). Our at-bats were really good. We were staying in, extending at-bats and that was good."

The win was the 20th in the last 23 games for City High (33-7), which advances to the state tournament for the fourth time in five years. The Little Hawks will play No. 10 Waukee (26-16) in a 4A state quarterfinal at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids.

“We were talking about it earlier today,” City High Coach Brian Mitchell said. “Just having another week of practice. It’s program-building type stuff and it is our expectation. Crosstown rivalry, they’re hot, a lot of things happening that way. It just means everything to the community. The east side community, their lives have been impacted by our baseball program because we have done a good job of building from ground zero all the way up.”

Zach Logsdon drove in the lone run for West, which ends its season at 20-22.