Madsen, Moore lift I.C. West past Xavier, 6-4

IOWA CITY - If there was a comeback player of the year award in high school baseball, Neil Madsen would be a lock.

The Iowa City West senior had surgery last February for a torn labrum and partial rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder. Not only did he return to the Trojans lineup, he did so about three weeks ahead of schedule.

“I knew hitting wise, I'd be back sometime this season,” Madsen said after Iowa City West's 6-4 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier last night in a terrific Class 4A substate final. “I had a pretty early recovery. I originally thought I'd be able to go about two weeks before substate. Instead it was five weeks. So I got a lot of at-bats before this, and I was ready to go.”

You bet he was. It was his two-out, two-run double to left-center in the bottom of the sixth inning that broke a tie and sent West (28-8) to the state tournament for a second consecutive year.

       It'll be a rematch of last year's title game in Wednesday afternoon's quarterfinals as five-seed West plays four-seed Sioux City North (29-10) at 2.

"We told our juniors that we've been there before, so we just need to go in and threat it like it's any other baseball game,” said West second baseman Sean Moore. “We've just got to go out there and do what we've been doing all year.”

Moore had two home runs against Xavier ace Jon Keller to set the school career record (24). Keller's fastball was clocked as high as 94 miles per hour, but West made him work, and he was lifted after 110 pitches in the fifth.

The Trojans had six hits and three walks against him.

 “We scouted him a little bit, and he threw like 90 percent fastballs,” Moore said. “So we were up at the plate, back of the box, we're all thinking fastball. He's going to bring it.”

Xavier (23-16) had leads of 2-1 and 3-2, rallying for a 4-4 tie on a clutch Alex Ries two-out RBI single in the sixth. The Saints stranded the bases loaded against West ace Ryan Rumpff (10-0) with Matt Goiffon flying to center to end the threat.

Chris Lauer, the No. 8 hitter, singled for the third-straight time against Xavier reliever Ean McNeal to lead off the West sixth. With two on and two out, Madsen laced a 3-1 breaking ball from Mac Mattke to the gap to win it.

“I just said stay inside the ball and hit the ball to the left side of the field,” said Madsen a lefty hitter. “And I did that.”

    Blake Helms had three hits for Xavier, with Jake Ratz adding two, including a two-run double after Keller was intentionally walked in front of him. In fact, Stumpff issued three intentional walks in the game, two to Keller, Xavier's leading hitter.

“Just a good ballgame,” said Xavier Coach Dave Schemmel. “Back and forth. They're a good ballclub, we had to play good to have a chance. Give them credit for coming back. But I think our guys kept coming back, too.”

Here's a short video interview with Moore and Madsen: