High school baseball notes: Dyersville Beckman progresses along with the season, now ranked No. 10 in Class 2A

Dyersville Beckman is starting to pick things up after somewhat of a slow start.

The Blazers have progressed along with the season and continue to improve with each test on the schedule.

Beckman has made a steady climb and cracked the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 2A rankings ahead of a tough and unique week. The 10th-ranked Blazers opened with a win over Dubuque Senior Tuesday at the Field of Dreams in their hometown, will face rival Cascade and hit the road to face Davenport Assumption at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

“This week, we will find out our postseason path and also are going through a tougher part of the schedule,” Beckman Coach Ryan Mabe said. “I'm big on keeping the type of schedule (late Hall of Fame Beckman Coach Tom) Jenk put in place to where you're playing quality teams all year. Both as a player and coach, I think you can take some things that quality teams do and apply them to your program.”

The Blazers received a first round bye and will face the winner of Clayton Ridge and Waukon in the 2A District 8 semifinals. Bellevue Marquette, MFL MarMac and Postville are also in the postseason bracket.

Beckman is 10-7 overall but five of their losses have come to teams in larger classes and none are to a 2A program. They are also 7-0 in the River Valley Conference, a half-game ahead of Anamosa for the Northern Division lead.

“We have been a little up and down to start, working to find consistency,” Mabe said. “A couple guys came out of the gates slow, but are coming around. Joe Engler has been a key consistent piece in the middle of the order.

“On the mound, (Dylan) Recker, Jake Schmidt and Chase White were going to be expected to carry the load on innings, but (Zach) Wulfekuhle and Mack Wolfe have been huge for us.”

The Blazers roughed up the Rams, 7-1, tallying 13 hits without one extra-base hit. Brenden Engler, Aiden Engler, Recker, Carter White and Owen Coyle each had two singles. They graduated some of their pop last year but have figured out how to utilize current personnel’s strengths.

“We lost our sluggers in (Luke) Sigwarth and (Matt) Florence, so just finding small ball ways to score runs was our mindset going in,” Mabe said. “The speed of our lineup 1-9 is something that helps us being able to steal bases. Our lineup is starting to cement itself after going through some variations, and I really like our one through nine.”

On Friday, the Blazers will head to St. Louis for an overnight stay. The Cardinals host the Cincinnati Reds at 1:15 p.m. After the game, Beckman and Assumption will take the field to play approximately 30 to 45 minutes on the Cardinals home field.

Mabe was born in St. Louis and played baseball with the son of the Cardinals’ former Vice President of Marketing. He reached out to current marketing representatives and set up the opportunity.

“I think trips like these are great for camaraderie amongst the guys,” Mabe said. “We'll take our whole program down and try to get as many kids on the field as possible.”

1A UNBEATENS FALL

Second-ranked Sigourney and No. 3 Lynnville-Sully started the week as the only unbeaten teams in 1A. Neither were unblemished by midweek.

Sigourney beat Lynnville-Sully Monday, scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh for an 8-7 victory. Brady Clark had three hits and three runs, while Caden Clarahan, Isaac Bruns and Lincoln Power added two RBIs apiece for Sigourney.

The Savages time as the line unbeaten in 1A didn’t last long. North Linn knocked them off with a 5-3 win Tuesday at Troy Mills.

Only three unbeatens remain. Underwood, ranked No. 1 in 2A, is 13-0 and 2A No. 2 Pleasantville is 16-0. MOC-Floyd Valley, No. 7 in 3A, is also 13-0.

POSTSEASON ASSIGNMENTS

District and substate assignments for Classes 1A and 2A have been released by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. Postseason competition for the two smallest classes begins July 5 with the substate finals set for July 15.

Iowa City Regina received a first-round bye and will face the winner between Cascade and West Branch in a 2A District 5 semifinal. The bracket also includes Alburnett, Denver and Hudson.

The 1A and 2A state tournaments will be held at Merchants Park in Carroll July 21-25. Pairings for 3A and 4A will be released later. Sioux City will host this year’s 3A and 4A state tournaments at Lewis & Clark Park.

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