5 Gazette area Iowa high school baseball games to watch for Week 3 of 2023 season

The Iowa high school baseball season begins its third week of competition and teams are knocking off the rust. The upcoming week includes top-10 battles, conference rivalries and games between teams on a hot streak. Here is a look ahead to some noteworthy Gazette-area matchups this week.

Tuesday: Cedar Rapids Kennedy at Western Dubuque

The Cougars have moved up to fifth in the Class 4A rankings, while the Bobcats sits atop 3A for the second straight poll. Both teams have produced stingy pitching with potent offenses. Kennedy is second in the state for runs scored and Western Dubuque is third. The Cougars score 9.6 runs per game with five home runs, including two apiece from Colby Dolphin and Grant Mather. Western Dubuque scores at a 10.4-run clip and gives up four per contest. The Bobcats are batting .332 with a whopping .497 team on-base percentage, which leads 3A.

Wednesday: West Delaware at Linn-Mar

The Hawks and Lions are on an upswing. West Delaware (6-1) has won three straight and four of the last five games. The Lions (7-3) have won five in a row and seven of the last eight. They have almost equal statistics with each averaging exactly six runs a game. The Hawks have a slight edge in runs allowed, giving up 3.7 per game compared the Lions’ 3.8. West Delaware also owns a 2.57-2.72 advantage in earned run average. Jaxon Kramer and Dylan Muszynski are tied for the Linn-Mar lead with 11 hits and Matthew Buse has a team-high .370 batting average and .500 on-base percentage. Sam Niles and Peyton Aldrich lead the Hawks’ pitching staff, posting 2-0 records and ERAs better than 1.63. Wil Ward leads West Delaware, batting .400 with six RBIs.

Wednesday: Cedar Rapids Xavier at Solon

The Saints are 6-3 and slipped one spot to No. 4 in the Class 3A rankings. Xavier ranks in the top 27 among all classes with 74 hits and is 20th with a 1.83 team ERA. The Spartans (4-5) had a slow start to the season but they have heated up, winning four of their last five games including a split of previously ranked Independence. Gehrig Turner has 10 hits and 10 RBIs for Solon.

Thursday: North Linn at Lisbon

The Tri-Rivers Conference battle is the marquee matchup of the week. The Lynx (7-0) are ranked third in 1A, coming in two spots in front of the Lions (4-0). Lisbon got a late start due to overlapping spring and summer seasons. The Lions have been stockpiling runs, scoring 13 or more in every game so far and averaging 15.5 runs per contest. Lisbon’s Landon Stolte is off to a hot start with 10 hits, 12 RBIs and eight runs. Lions pitchers own a 1.05 ERA. North Linn scores 10.4 runs per game. Seniors Corbin Woods and Ben Wheatley lead the Lynx with 13 hits. Cael Bridgewater has 11 hits and 11 runs for North Linn, which ranks eighth among all classes with a .369 team batting average.

Friday: West Liberty at Marion

An interesting non-conference battle between the 2A Comets and 3A No. 2 Wolves. West Liberty is 6-1 and starts this week with four straight wins. The Comets have outscored opponents, 41-5, during that stretch. They rank fourth among all classes with 1.09 team ERA for staffs that have pitched at least 36 innings and only give up 1.9 runs per game. Tytan Griffith and Drake Collins have been a strong duo for West Liberty. Both are 2-0. Griffith has 20 strikeouts in 12 innings with a 0.58 ERA. Collins has 27 strikeouts in 11 innings and 0.64 ERA. Marion scores 7.8 runs per game. The Wolves have combined for a .311 batting average and .415 on-base percentage. Myles Davis and Isaac Scott lead the way with seven hits. Davis, an Iowa Hawkeyes commit, also has two home runs and seven RBIs. Payton Hodges is 2-0 for the Wolves.