Linn-Mar baseball authors victorious underdog tale in 6-2 substate final win over No. 4 Iowa City High

IOWA CITY — Midway through the prep baseball season, Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner stood before his team and announced he was retiring at season's end.

Thanks to a gritty performance from his Lions, Lechner's 15-year tenure will conclude at the state tournament.

Senior Kirby Kerr collected three hits and scored two runs, while pitcher Josh Strauss yielded one run in five innings as the Lions upset fourth-ranked Iowa City High, 6-2, in a Class 4A substate final Wednesday night at Mercer Park.

'This is all we ever wanted from the time we started baseball,' Kerr said. 'Coach retiring after this (season) just added to it. It's the greatest feeling ever.'

The victory sends Lechner and Linn-Mar (21-18) to the state tournament for the third time in six years. The sixth appearance overall in school history — fourth with Lechner as coach — begins with a Class 4A state quarterfinal against top-ranked Johnston (36-3) July 26 at 1:30 p.m. at Principal Park in Des Moines.

'I'm excited for our kids and get to experience the state tournament with them,' said Lechner, who earned his 400th coaching victory earlier this season. 'It's time for a change and spend some more time with the family. It's such a grind, it's year-round. I've neglected the family for too long now.'

The substate collision represented a notable rebound season for both Linn-Mar and Iowa City High. The Mississippi Valley Conference foes each had losing records last year.

'The kids have been great the last couple weeks of the season,' Lechner said. 'They've been really focused, set their goals high. When the substates came out, we felt like we could compete with anybody.'

Kerr immediately jumped on Iowa City High starting pitcher Brett McCleary (5-3), who entered the game with an earned run average of less than a run and 65 strikeouts, which ranked sixth in 4A. A deep drive to the left-field wall for a Kerr double led to a one-out RBI single up the middle by senior Reese Phillips and a 1-0 first-inning lead for Linn-Mar.

'I was just seeing the ball well,' Kerr said. 'We knew coming into the game that we would see a lot of fastballs. We hit velocity well, so we were all ready for it.'

Strauss, whose day began with a screening among teammates of multiple installments of the classic underdog film series 'Rocky,' was pivotal in writing Linn-Mar's own tale of overcoming the odds. The senior, who will play football at the University of Dubuque this fall, kept the Little Hawks off the scoreboard through four innings, which gave his offense the opportunity to pile up some runs.

'That's all we talk about now, everything is 'Rocky,'' Strauss said with a laugh. 'That's all we watch. We're pretty excited to get this nice charter bus so we can watch it again. I think that's a big part of it.'

A one-out bunt single down the first base line and head-first slide by junior Trot Carey began a fifth-inning barrage. With two outs and two strikes, Kerr plated Carey with an opposite-field double into the right-field corner. With Linn-Mar up, 2-0, lightning was spotted and a delay of nearly an hour began.

'We weren't concerned,' Kerr said. 'I told all the guys during the delay, 'We've just got to stay focused. We don't want another incident like the World Series.''

If there were any thoughts of Linn-Mar returning to the field after the delay and collapsing as the Cleveland Indians did against the Chicago Cubs in the seventh game of October's 'Fall Classic,' it was quickly extinguished. City High relief pitcher Bryce Frantz relieved McCleary and issued two bases-loaded walks that scored Kerr and courtesy runner Trent Roling, then a throwing error scored Phillips and courtesy runner Cody Suther. The Lions' lead was suddenly 6-0.

'We kind of thought it (the delay) would help us,' said City High Coach Brian Mitchell, whose Little Hawks end the season at 29-13. 'But we just weren't able to command the zone there. It got them a little bit out of reach.'

Strauss returned to the mound despite the delay and surrendered a couple of walks and an RBI single by City High senior Zach Stone, but he escaped further damage and stranded a couple of runners.

Strauss (5-3) finished with five walks, three strikeouts and yielded one run with four hits. The pitching victory was the third in the last four starts for Strauss, who did not pitch when the Lions dropped a June 12 home doubleheader to City High.

'They are a really good hitting team, they have a really strong lineup,' Strauss said. 'I just tried to focus in on hitting my spots and hit the outside corner because you can't leave one up against them. It was a tough battle, they played good and I'm glad we won.'

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