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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
The Gazette’s 2024 high school baseball awards, including area player, coach and team of the year
Class 4A state champion Cedar Rapids Kennedy takes top honors
Jul. 29, 2024 6:10 pm
The Iowa high school baseball season has ended. Here are the second annual Gazette-area baseball awards.
Player of the Year: Nolan Grawe, Cedar Rapids Kennedy
Grawe was an offensive dynamo with gaudy statistics that helped the Cougars produce their best season in school history. He provided power and consistency in the No. 2 spot in Kennedy’s potent lineup. Not only was Grawe capable of setting the table for teammates Grant Mather and Matt Stoltenberg behind him, he had a penchant for driving in runs when leadoff batter Ty Donels or batters at the bottom of the order got on base.
Grawe led the state with 54 RBIs and tied for the state lead with 14 home runs and 118 total bases. He batted .496 with a .597 on-base percentage. Grawe scored 52 runs and belted 29 extra-base hits, including 13 doubles and two triples. He was one of the best all-around hitters over the last two years.
The Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division and All-Metro Player of the Year was a stable defender at third base. He also earned Class 4A Northeast first-team all-district honors from the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.
Grawe will continue his baseball career in the fall at South Dakota State.
Other candidates include Iowa City High’s Jaxton Schroeder and Solon’s Brett White. Schroeder posted a 7-1 record with 1.69 earned-run average and 54 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings pitched, helping City High to the 4A state semifinals. He also led the No. 3 Little Hawks with 39 hits, a .379 batting average and .508 OBP. White, who will play baseball at Baylor University, batted .398 with .560 OBP. He drew a whopping 38 walks as teams tried to avoid adding to his 13 home runs, which ranked third among all classes. White, who spent time traveling to his new home in Waco, Texas, and back to Solon to play games, had 13 doubles and 42 RBIs.
Team of the Year: Cedar Rapids Kennedy
The Cougars were on a mission from the moment last season ended in their substate final. Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer noted the offseason work multiple times over the season and the effort paid gold dividends.
Kennedy captured the 4A state championship, beating West Des Moines Dowling, 7-3, in the title game last Friday. The Cougars finished the season 36-4, setting the program record for victories in a season. Kennedy finished the regular season ranked No. 1 by in the coaches poll and closed the postseason at No. 1 for the second time in school history and first since 2010.
The Cougars won the MVC Valley, which included state semifinalist City High and No. 6 Linn-Mar.
The offense was dynamic, averaging 9.9 runs per game with a .352 team average. The Cougars led the state with 45 home runs — 19 more than No. 2 Dallas Center-Grimes. Seven Cougars had at least two home runs. In addition to Grawe’s 14 home runs, Grant Mather had 10 and Matt Stoltenberg added eight.
The batting order didn’t have a weak link. Nine batters had 25 or more hits and seven had 31 or better.
Mather, Jace Scott and Colton Duerling were key figures on the mound. Mather finished with 11 wins, including the state quarterfinal over Pleasant Valley. Duerling earned a win in relief in the state semifinal against Johnston and got the start and victory in the final the next day, finishing 7-1. Scott was 4-1 and the Cougars had a respectable 3.16 team ERA.
The Cougars showed the ability to claw their way to tight victories, like the 8-7 walk-off win over Johnston in the state semifinals thanks to Ty Donels’ solo home run or the firepower to blow out the competition like the 18-3 win over defending 3A state champion Western Dubuque or 17-2 win over Independence.
The Cougars became the first Metro program to win the 4A title since Cedar Rapids Prairie in 2016.
Other teams in the running include Marion, which ended the season 32-6 after a 2-1 state semifinal loss to eventual 3A champion North Polk, and Sigourney. The Savages (21-5) made their first state tournament appearance.
Pitcher of the Year: Mason Waterbury, Iowa City Liberty
Waterbury was the Lightning ace and stifled opponents’ hitters regularly. He was named MVC Mississippi Division Player of the Year and earned first-team all-district honors from the IHSBCA. His numbers prove just how dominating he was this season.
The junior left-hander posted a 10-0 record with a microscopic 0.34 ERA. He allowed three earned runs all season and only eight runs total in 12 total appearances. Waterbury’s quick pace kept fielders engaged and batters stymied, striking out 68 in 61 innings. He held batters to just a .156 batting average with a 0.79 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).
Waterbury’s mom, Nance (Niemeyer) Waterbury, was a multisport athlete at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The 1993 J-Hawk graduate is in the school’s athletics Hall of Fame for basketball and softball. Waterbury is the grandson of the late Hall of Fame high school softball and basketball coach Larry Niemeyer, who holds the national record for career wins by a high school softball coach.
Coach of the Year: Bret Hoyer, Cedar Rapids Kennedy
Hoyer has been one of the most consistent high school baseball coaches in the area. He has guided Kennedy for more than 30 seasons, leading the Cougars to the state finals for the fourth time and winning the 4A crown for the second time.
Hoyer’s attention to the intricacies of the game plays a huge part in his development of players and in-game management. Of course, he also had loads of talent to work with this season.
Hoyer coached Iowa City Regina to a 2A state runner-up finish 1991. He has led Kennedy to 14 state tournaments.
Hoyer and his staff was named MVC Valley Coach of the Year and shared All-Metro Coach of the Year honors with Steve Fish and Marion’s staff.
Fish, City High’s Brian Mitchell, North Linn’s Travis Griffith and South Winneshiek’s Alex Smith were candidates. Mitchell led the Little Hawks to the 3A semifinals and 34 victories. Griffith helped a youth-filled lineup back to the 1A state tournament. The Warriors qualified for their third straight 1A state tournament and fifth since 2019 under Smith.
Breakthrough Team of the Year: Sigourney
Sigourney garnered plenty of attention with its most successful season. The Savages tallied 21 wins, reaching the state baseball tournament for the first time in program history. Sigourney recorded a 4-2 victory over No. 2 Burlington Notre Dame in a substate final.
The season ended with a 2-0 loss to eventual 1A champion and South Iowa Cedar League foe Lynnville-Sully in the state quarterfinals. To put the season in perspective, the Savages lost five games — two to Lynnville-Sully and three to 2A programs.
Sigourney scored about 8.8 runs per game. Caden Clarahan, Cole McKay, Reid Molyneux and Isaac Bruns earned first-team all-SICL honors, while Jake Moore and Chase Clarahan were second-teamers. Chase Clarahan and Molyneux were first-team all-district honorees for Coach Lee Crawford.
Newcomer of the Year: Charlie Sarsfield, Linn-Mar
Aggressive, athletic and active. The Lion freshman is fun to watch on the diamond and made an impact for the Lions. Sarsfield earned first-team all-Metro honors and was a second-team all-MVC Valley selection. He batted .367 with a .484 OBP. Sarsfield had 47 hits, including nine doubles, 46 runs, 21 RBIs and 24 walks. He was also a terror on the basepaths, stealing 19 bases in 20 attempts.
Sarsfield received second-team all-district recognition and was just one of five freshmen in 4A to make an IHSBCA all-district team.
Clutch Moment of the Year: Ty Donels, Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Tanner Topping, Cascade
Donels provided the walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to propel Kennedy to an 8-7 victory over No. 4 Johnston and into the state finals for the first time since 2010. Donels’ two-out blast landed in the picnic table area beyond the left-field wall at Veterans Memorial Stadium. His third homer of the season also snapped the Dragons’ two-year title streak and five-year stretch of championship appearances.
Topping was an unlikely hero as a late-game substitute, pinch-running for the Cougars’ top hitter, Cooper Hummel. When their 2A district semifinal against Iowa City Regina went into extra innings, Topping was forced to stay in the lineup. Without an official at-bat all season, the freshman stepped to the plate with two runners on and delivered an RBI single, sparking a three-run top of the eighth. He also scored that inning and the Cougars won, 6-4. Cascade reached the substate finals but fell a win shy of state.
Diamond Dawg Award: Jake Mitchell, Iowa City High
Mitchell has been a success in just about everything he has done. He qualified for state in football, golf, wrestling and baseball. Baseball is his forte, serving as a versatile asset in the Little Hawks lineup. He has a quiet tenacity on the field, playing all three outfield positions and pitching.
Mitchell, the son of former University of Iowa player and current City High Coach Brian Mitchell and the grandson of wrestling legend Dan Gable, played in all 42 games. He batted .306 with a .434 OBP, amassing 38 hits, 29 runs, 20 RBIs, 11 doubles, 22 stolen bases and 21 walks. He also went 4-0 on the mound with a save and 0.86 ERA.
The all-MVC and all-district performer will join his older brother, Gable Mitchell, on the Hawkeye baseball team next season.
Iron Man Award: Brett Harris, Western Dubuque
Few stories are as inspirational as Harris’. The Bobcats sophomore played his second straight season after being diagnosed with an inoperable benign brain tumor. Harris started 40 games, splitting his time as a catcher and pitcher for Western Dubuque. He batted .291 but opposing teams tried to avoid pitching to the all-stater. He drew 43 walks for a .531 OBP and scored 40 runs. On the mound, he made eight starts with 11 overall appearances, posting a 6-2 record.
Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com
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