Emotional week includes state quarterfinal win

DES MOINES - The last week has been an emotional roller coaster for the Cedar Rapids Kennedy baseball team.

Instead of properly celebrating a dominant substate victory and a return to the state tournament, the Cougars mourned the unexpected death to former Kennedy head coach and late assistant Bill Herkelman.

With heavy hearts and 'Herk” on their minds, second-seeded Kennedy managed to take care of business, defeating No. 7-seed Davenport North, 3-2, in the Class 4A state quarterfinals Wednesday night at Principal Park.

Balancing feelings with preparing for the task at hand was tough.

'It was the kids,” Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer said. 'It certainly wasn't the coaches. We couldn't to keep it together. The kids did.

'He means a lot to them. They loved Herk.”

The Cougars (30-11) honored the late coach, who died Friday from complications of a stroke suffered Thursday. They wore practice shirts with the 77-year-old's jersey number (29) on their back. They also elected to be the visiting team, partly due to it being Herkelman's preference.

'We all did it out of respect, because we honor the man so much,” Kennedy senior Sammy Lizarraga said. 'He's a father figure to all of us. It is just all out of respect for the guy.”

Lizarraga (8-0) was magnificent on the mound, overpowering the North batters. The 6-foot-5 right-hander tallied a career high 14 strikeouts, allowing just three hits. He struck out 11 in two other appearances this season.

'I was hitting my spots with my fastball,” said Lizarraga, who has allowed just four hits and no earned runs in 13 innings pitched during the state quarterfinals the last two years. 'My curveball was dropping over for strikes.”

Lizarraga helped his own cause in the fifth, bringing in the winning run. He executed a safety squeeze to bring in Mitch Gaffey, who reached on his team-high second hit. Lizarraga faced the minimum of nine batters the last three innings, striking out the side in the fifth and picking off the only Wildcat runner during that stretch to end the sixth.

'It was a great game,” Kennedy's Zach Daniels said of Lizarraga. 'He did everything right.”

Daniels sparked the Cougars, amped with excitement to start the game. He led off the game to right field, followed by a bunt single by Gaffey. They advanced, tagging up on a fly out to right field, and Daniels scurried home on a throwing error on the play. The aggressive style was a matter of taking advantage of the situation.

'We had the right guys on base, who could run a little bit,” Hoyer said. 'We took some chances.”

Jackson Behn delivered another key shot, smacking a liner up the middle to score Gaffey.

'We knew it was big to get out in front,” Behn said. 'I was just looking for something over the plate that I could drive. It was pretty big for us.”

Kennedy's defense helped North (19-15) back in the game, committing errors that led to a 2-2 tie. A bases-loaded error brought in Will Lard, who led the third off with North's first single. In the fourth, Collin Guinn reached on an error, stole second and went to third when the throw went into the outfield. Another error brought him home. The Cougars continued to pull for each other, especially Lizarraga, who could have let out his frustration.

'He didn't do that,” Hoyer said. 'He was encouraging them to make the next play and he just kept battling. He was fantastic.”

The Cougars reach the state semifinals for the first time since 2012. They will face a familiar foe in No. 3-seed Iowa City West (33-11). The Trojans defeated Des Moines East, 11-3. The Cougars swept West in a doubleheader on June 19.

Kennedy will need a cleaner effort Friday at 7:30 p.m.

'We have to field the ball better,” Hoyer said. 'Hopefully, get some key hits with runners in scoring position. That performance isn't going to be good enough to win in the semifinals. We know that and the kids know that.”

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