Kennedy's Anthony Alepra shuts out Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON — His coach gave him a quick command as he walked out of the dugout and to the Cedar Rapids Kennedy bus.

'Make sure you take care of that arm tonight,' Bret Hoyer told Anthony Alepra.

Yeah, Anthony, take care of that arm. It's going to be important for your team the rest of the season.

Alepra threw a three-hit shutout in his first varsity start, outdueling Luke Eldred as Kennedy shaded Mount Vernon, 1-0, Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Baseball Tournament. The Cougars and Cedar Rapids Prairie play in Wednesday night's 7 p.m. final at Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

'Just do my best, that's what it's all about,' Alepra said, after insuring his coach he would, indeed, take care of his right arm. 'I love pitching. It was fun to come out here and get the win. There was no room to mess up. You look at the scoreboard, and we got one run in the first inning. This easily could have turned out going into extras or something.'

This hour-and-a-half game had a postseason vibe to it, with each pitcher pounding the strike zone and each defense making plays. Jackson Behn's two-out seeing-eye single up the middle scored courtesy runner Noah Cronbaugh in the top of the first for the only run.

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Eldred, son of former big leaguer Cal, was equally brilliant, giving up just four hits and striking out six. He's headed to pitch next year at Division I Dallas Baptist.

Alepra has a three-quarters delivery that appears to be especially tough on right-handed hitters. He lived on the outside corner with a moving fastball, changing speeds adeptly with a curve and changeup.

'I thought it went pretty good for my first outing. Felt pretty good,' Eldred said. 'But Anthony did a really good job. And they've got tough hitters who put the ball in play.'

'To a certain extent,' Hoyer said, when asked if he was surprised by Alepra's outing. 'His first varsity start. To come out and throw as well as he did, as consistently as he did, we knew he had that in him. But could he do it over and over and over again, inning after inning? He did.'

Alepra retired the first two hitters in every inning. Mount Vernon put runners at first and second base with two outs in the first and third innings, and had guys on first in the sixth and seventh, but that was it.

After the first inning, Kennedy hit only one ball out of the infield, and that was an out. Pitcher's duel? Yeah.

'I started out a little rough,' Alepra said. 'I was missing high. But the middle of the game, I kind of found my rhythm. It worked out.'

'You make pitches, then you make (defensive) plays. Sounds simple,' Hoyer said with a laugh.

Marion rallied for seven unanswered runs to topple Linn-Mar in a preceding consolation game, 7-4. Bobby Vanderlind's RBI single in a four-run fifth inning proved to be the winner.

Owen Carstensen had three RBIs for the Indians. Forrest Cronin had a two-run hit for Linn-Mar.

Marion added a pair of big insurance runs in the seventh, one as part of one of the weirdest plays you'll see. Three separate Indians baserunners were part of a rundown, with one run ending up scoring during the elongated multiple 'pickle.'

The only runner called out on the play was actually safe, until walking toward his dugout and abandoning the base he was on. Umpires then lost track of the outs, with Marion being called back up to hit even though it was warming up defensively for the bottom of the seventh.

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'I just stayed out of it,' said Marion Coach Steve Fish. 'Because they were botching it so bad. I didn't know what the hell was going on.'

Mount Vernon plays Cedar Rapids Washington in the tournament's third-place game Wednesday night at 7. Linn-Mar and Cedar Rapids Xavier play for seventh place at 5.

The fifth-place game is between Marion and Cedar Rapids Jefferson at 5 p.m. at Jefferson.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com