Iowa City High finally gets its state baseball championship

SIOUX CITY - Hey Eddie Watt, your alma mater finally did it!

The 84-year-old is probably the most distinguished of the alumni who played baseball at Iowa City High, though there have been a ton of good one over the years. Watt pitched in 411 games in the major leagues, winning two World Series championships with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 and 1970.

But he never was a state high school champion. No one in the program was, until Friday afternoon.

City High scored three runs in the top of the first inning, received a Watt-like starting pitching performance from Jaxton Schroeder and beat Bettendorf, 4-1, in the Class 4A state title game at Lewis & Clark Park for its first baseball championship. It’s the school’s first championship in any sport since girls’ track in 2011.

It’s also Iowa City’s first state baseball title.

“These kids did a great job,” said City High Coach Brian Mitchell. “Jaxton was a beast on the mound ... This is so good. It means everything to our school because it’s been a long drought.”

“This kind of speaks for itself, right?” Schroeder said. “We have so many guys who have put so much work in, just grinding ...”

These Little Hawks (35-9) arrived at state as the third seed and needed a sixth-inning rally to win their quarterfinal game over Waukee. They got behind again right away in the semifinals before subduing Cedar Rapids Prairie.

No comeback stuff needed here. Talon Young singled in Schroeder, and Drew Nye scored two more first-inning runs with a clutch two-out base hit as City High grabbed a 3-0 lead.

Nye hit his first (and only) home run this season in the quarterfinals. They call that clutch.

So, too was Schroeder. The left-hander, headed to Kirkwood Community College, wasn’t sharp against Waukee and was pulled in the fourth inning Tuesday, but there was no pulling here.

He seemed to get stronger as the game progressed,with his fastball-slider combination, ending up allowing just four hits and three walks, striking out eight. That included Wrigley Matthys looking to end things, City High players gathering and dogpiling in celebration on the mound.

“Originally, in my warmup, I didn’t feel the greatest,” Schroeder said. “But once I came out and got the adrenalin flowing, I knew I had my stuff. It was just a great feeling to know that I was going to go out and compete with my best stuff and trust my defense to make plays for me.”

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There was one City High player who didn’t end up in the postgame dogpile. Catcher Talon Young sank to his knees and leaned his head on home plate, overcome with emotion.

He was a four-year varsity player who pitched in state tournament semifinal losses to West Des Moines Dowling as a freshman and junior and to Ames as a sophomore. Young played this season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and is getting Tommy John elbow surgery Monday.

“It’s been a long wait,” he said. “I’ve been a big part of this team my freshman, sophomore and junior year. Last year, we lost when I was on the bump. My junior year, we lost when I was on the bump. This year, I tear my UCL. A lot of ups and downs. I honestly just collapsed with tears of joy. Nothing feels better than this.”

Mitchell played in the 1995 4A championship game for City High, which lost to West Des Moines Valley, 6-5. This was City High’s first finals appearance since that year.

“I tell you what, my buddies from ‘95, they were ready to go, too,” Mitchell said. “You know, ‘92, ‘95, ‘97, we had a lot of the 90s when we were right there. So all my buddies are witnessing history, and they’re really happy.

“And our principal Mr. (John) Bacon. He asked me to help coach, and I told him no three times. I never wanted to coach, it wasn’t my intent to coach. But we needed a boost at City High back in the day. That’s where it started.”

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