5 Gazette area Iowa high school baseball games to watch for Week 5 of 2025

Benton Community visits Marion in a Wamac Conference clash. Sigourney comes to North Linn for a battle of ranked Class 1A teams, Dyersville Beckman heads to Cascade in one of Iowa’s top high school baseball rivalries and more games to watch in Week 5.

MONDAY: BENTON COMMUNITY AT MARION

Benton Community (16-3, 9-1) leads the Wamac West Division, while Marion (11-3, 7-1) is atop the Wamac East. The Bobcats have won five in a row and nine of their last 10, taking two from Vinton-Shellsburg Thursday. The Wolves have won five of their last six, coming off a sweep of Mount Vernon. Marion has won the three meetings. Pitching and defense could dictate how these games play out. The Bobcats allow 3.2 runs per game and Marion comes in at 3.1 a contest. The Wolves have an edge in earned-run average (1.71-2.83). V.J. Schulte has been a huge addition for Benton. He leads the team with 28 hits at the plate and four wins on the mound. Carson Nolan has driven in 21 runs for the Bobcats. Isaiah Scott is 2-0 and leads the Wolves with 19 innings pitched and 22 strikeouts. He also owns a 1.47 ERA. Jake Miller has a team-best 21 hits and 23 runs and Grayson Kirsch has 15 RBIs for Marion.

MONDAY: C.R. PRAIRIE AT C.R. XAVIER

Cedar Rapids Prairie is top-ranked in 4A. The Hawks (20-1) swept 4A No. 5 Iowa City High and Cedar Rapids Washington but dropped their first game in a split with Muscatine last week. Xavier owns a 21-19 edge in the series, dating back to 2009, and swept the Hawks last season. Prairie is impressive offensively, scoring 9.5 runs a game and leading 4A with a .371 team batting average. The Hawks are speedy and their aggressive baserunning applies lots of pressure on defenses. Prairie’s Collin McClintock leads the state with 34 RBIs. Kamren Francois leads the team with 33 hits. Xavier split a doubleheader with 4A No. 10 Iowa City Liberty on Friday. Jack Casey has been a sparkplug for the Saints. He has a team-high 23 runs (almost double than the next Saint) and 24 hits with a .429 batting average. Tate Proskovec is a two-way threat, hitting .367 with 16 RBIs, and a 3-1 record with a 2.26 ERA, fanning 30 in 21 2/3 innings.

TUESDAY: SIGOURNEY AT NORTH LINN

North Linn Coach Travis Griffith made a concerted effort to bolster the seventh-ranked Lynx non-conference schedule. He had 1A power Mason City Newman on the slate but that got rained out. The other games he scheduled were No. 3 Saint Ansgar and No. 2 Sigourney. North Linn and Sigourney were state quarterfinalists last season. The Savages are 12-0 and have ascended the ranks, following their best season with an even better start to this one. Sigourney scores an eye-popping 14.1 runs per game. Sigourney’s Cole McKay paces the team with 17 hits and 19 RBIs. Caden and Chase Clarahan are batting .448 and .441, respectively. Sigourney also opens the week at home against Lynnville-Sully (12-0) in a battle of unbeaten 1A teams. The Lynx are powered by senior trio Cole Griffith, Cael Benesh and Mason Bechen. Griffith and Bechen each have 21 hits. Griffith also has 19 RBIs and Benesh has driven in 18. Macoy Winn is 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA and Waylon Raue is 2-0 with 21 strikeouts for North Linn.

THURSDAY: DYERSVILLE BECKMAN AT CASCADE

One of the best prep baseball rivalries in the state will be at American Legion Ball Park. The series is even better with both teams in the River Valley Conference North Division. Beckman is just 9-7 but leads the division with a 7-0 conference mark, a half-game ahead of Anamosa. Cascade comes in at 6-8 overall and 2-4 in the conference. Throw the records out. Beckman leads the series, 14-10, since 2009. The teams split a regular-season doubleheader but Cascade won the postseason meeting last season. Both offenses are almost even. The Blazers score at a 6.3 clip and the Cougars average 6.1 runs per game. Eli Fritz leads Cascade with 14 hits and 15 RBIs. Joe Engler leads Beckman with 22 hits and 21 RBIs. Dylan Recker has three wins and a 1.11 ERA in 19 innings pitched. Beckman also has a game against North Linn on Wednesday and Davenport Assumption on Saturday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Mo.

FRIDAY: ANAMOSA VS. IOWA CITY REGINA, AT MEMORIAL STADIUM

The meeting between RVC divisional contenders will be held at Memorial Stadium, home of the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Minnesota Twins Class A affiliate. The Regals, who slid into last week’s 2A rankings at No. 10, lead the RVC South, posting a 7-1 conference mark and 13-3 overall. Anamosa, coached by former Xavier prep Adam Tvedt, is 10-4 overall but 6-0 in the RVC North. The teams are 2-2 against each other since 2019. The Blue Raiders have won five straight games and seven of their last eight. Regina finished last week with wins Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson and Council Bluffs Saint Albert. Both teams have similar statistical lines. Regina scores 6.4 runs per game, giving up 3.4. Anamosa comes in at 7.8 and 3.2. The Blue Raiders’ Dane Owen is batting .426 with 20 hits and 12 RBIs, while Vince Diers has three wins and a 1.22 ERA. Will Litton leads Regina with 22 hits and three wins. Litton also has 12 RBIs, 12 runs scored and a 1.53 ERA.

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