Ames outlasts Iowa City High, 9-7, in Class 4A state baseball tournament quarterfinals

IOWA CITY — The taunting chants seemed head-scratchingly premature.

“Why so quiet?” Ames baseball rooters roared Tuesday night at their Iowa City High counterparts at Banks Field. “Why so quiet?”

This was the bottom of the sixth inning of a 4-1 game in which the Little Cyclones still needed to get five outs. As if on cue, City High mounted an immediate rally, scoring a run and putting guys on second and third.

Ames still needed those five outs.

But in the end, this was Carter Geffre’s night, his team’s night. The junior starting pitcher and University of Iowa commit got a strikeout and groundout to limit the damage, Ames put up a five spot in the seventh inning, watched City High do the same in the bottom half but held on for a 9-7 win in a Class 4A state baseball tournament quarterfinal.

The seventh-seeded Little Cyclones (30-13) play sixth-seeded Cedar Falls (28-14) in Friday night’s semifinals.

“It was awesome to pitch here. I felt like I was at home,” Geffre said, of his future college ballpark. “It just made me very competitive. I shined.”

Yes, he did, throwing 113 pitches and powering through 6 1/3 innings before being removed from the game because he hit his pitch limitation. The junior right-hander has a fastball that’s right now 85 to 87 miles per hour, and a sweeping breaking ball and changeup.

That arsenal helped him pick up 13 strikeouts. He didn’t walk anyone, gave up six hits and two runs, only one of which was earned.

City High (31-12) simply didn’t play clean enough baseball to move along. The second-seeded Little Hawks committed four errors, their pitchers walking eight guys and hitting another.

Three errors alone in the fourth allowed Ames to score twice and take a 2-1 lead. Five walks in the fifth brought home two more Little Cyclones runs.

A five-run Ames seventh proved to be hugely critical, as City High countered with five runs in the bottom half, bringing the tying run to the plate.

“We didn’t play well. Errors, free bases,” said City High Coach Brian Mitchell. “That wasn’t how we play. But you’ve got to give the Geffre kid a lot of credit. We couldn’t get him out of there early enough. It wasn’t clean baseball like we’ve been playing. Unfortunately the timing for that wasn’t good for us.”

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Photos: City High vs. Ames in state baseball quarterfinals

City High did score first, when D.J. Hodges lined a pitch to center field with two outs in the bottom of the first inning that a head-long diving Ames center fielder came up short on catching, the ball bouncing all the way to the fence and allowing Hodges to pick up a relatively easy inside-the-park home run.

City High actually outhit Ames by a 9-5 margin, but you’ve got to go back to the errors and walks thing again. This was the second consecutive state tournament appearance for City High, and with multiple key players returning next season, three consecutive state tournament appearances has a legit shot to happen.

“I’m super proud. At the end (of the game), we made it difficult for them,” Mitchell said. “I’m sure they were a little nervous at the end. I don’t think we gave in, either. I really love these kids, the way they support each other and came together the second half of the season was pretty impressive.”

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