Iowa high school state baseball 2022: Thursday’s scores, stats and more

The 2022 Iowa high school state baseball tournament semifinals continue Thursday with Class 2A games at Merchants Park in Carroll and Class 4A games at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City.

Find live stream information, updated scores and more coverage here throughout the day. And follow The Gazette’s K.J. Pilcher (Carroll) and Jeff Johnson (Iowa City) on Twitter for live updates from the stadiums.

State baseball coverage

» Fight late not quite enough for Iowa City High in state baseball semifinals

» Late outburst propels Van Meter to state baseball semifinal victory over Dyersville Beckman

» Second-seeded Estherville-Lincoln Central ends Mid-Prairie’s strong postseason run

» Wednesday’s state baseball scores, stats and more

» Updated 3A and 4A state baseball brackets, schedules and scores

» Updated 1A and 2A state baseball brackets, schedules and scores

Thursday’s state baseball scores

CLASS 2A SEMIFINALS

No. 2 Estherville-Lincoln Central 7, No. 6 Mid-Prairie 4

The road may not have ended where Mid-Prairie wanted, but it was one heck of a journey.

Even if a rebuilding year was expected, the Golden Hawks can reload with the experience from this postseason run.

“We were kind of overlooked from the get-go,” Mid-Prairie junior Cain Brown said. “How far our players have come, and as a team, is crazy to look at. I’m so proud of these guys.”

Second-seeded Estherville-Lincoln Central overcame an early deficit and upended No. 6 Mid-Prairie’s bid for a second straight upset, recording a 7-4 victory in the Class 2A state baseball semifinals Thursday night at Merchants Park.

“It was a good game,” Mid-Prairie Kyle Mullet said. “We battled. Our guys never gave up on their at-bats. We played a good Estherville team. They were on and hit the ball well. We did what we needed to do and put the ball in play. Just came up short.“

The long ball gave ELC (33-2) its first lead and small ball allowed the Midgets to pull away.

Blake Ingvall had a hand in both, helping them take their first lead the following inning. Owen Larson singled before Ingvall ripped a two-run home run off the bottom of the scoreboard in right field for a 4-3 advantage.

“I thought I only burned him,” Ingvall said. “I thought it was burn double and all of a sudden it was ‘clink’ scoreboard. I looked around and nobody was really signaling home run. I was making sure and the second-base ump said it was over, so I started trotting home. It felt amazing.”

» Read the full story from The Gazette’s K.J. Pilcher

» Photo gallery | Box score

No. 1 Van Meter 9, No. 4 Dyersville Beckman 4

This wasn’t David versus Goliath.

Think of it more as current Goliath staring down historical Goliath.

Dyersville Beckman has won six state baseball titles with the last coming in 2017, while Van Meter has won the last three Class 2A crowns, looking for four in a row.

Historical Goliath blinked.

Jack Pettit reached on an error and scored on Ganon Archer’s duck-snort single to left field and Ike Speltz added a grand slam in an eight-run sixth, propelling top-seeded Van Meter to a 9-4 victory over No. 4 Beckman in the Class 2A state semifinals Thursday night at Merchants Park.

The Bulldogs (38-0) won their 53rd straight game, dating back to June 25, 2021, and will face No. 2-seed Estherville-Lincoln Central (33-2) in Friday’s final.

The game was knotted at one apiece until the bottom of the sixth when Van Meter sent 13 batters to the plate.

» Read the full story from The Gazette’s K.J. Pilcher

» Photo gallery | Box score

CLASS 4A SEMIFINALS

No. 1 Johnston 11, No. 5 Waukee Northwest 3

» Box score

No. 6 West Des Moines Dowling 6, No. 2 Iowa City High 4

It’s hard to play from behind.

It’s even harder to play from behind in a huge game. Then it’s even harder to play from behind in a huge game against a very good opponent.

Iowa City High did everything it could to overcome that significant stuff Thursday night in the Class 4A state baseball tournament semifinals at Banks Field. The Little Hawks almost did, but the key word there is “almost.”

West Des Moines Dowling scored twice right away in the top of the first inning and never trailed, holding on at the end for a 6-4 win that sets up yet another all-Central Iowa Metro League championship game. It’s the Maroons (27-14) and Johnston (35-4) for the title Saturday night.

City High (32-9) faced deficits of 4-1 after four innings and 5-2 after 5 1/2, yet closed within 5-4 in the bottom of sixth and had the tying run on base. The tying run was at the plate in the seventh.

In short, the Little Hawks didn’t go away quietly.

“When you get down against a team like that, it’s tough to come back, but we stayed in it,” said City High’s Alex Knudtson. “We battled through the whole game. Not everything went our way with it. I don’t know. We could have gotten a few more runs in, but we didn’t hit tonight like we used to.”

» Read the full story from The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson

» Photo gallery | Box score

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