Mediapolis halts Regina’s rally, punches state ticket

IOWA CITY - It was just too little, too late for Iowa City Regina.

Down 6-0 going into the bottom of the seventh against Mediapolis in a Class 2A substate championship game, the Regals started to rally.

Regina scored five runs and had the Bulldogs on their heels - the tying run at third base and the winning run at first - with two outs.

But Mediapolis had enough left to close out the contest as reliever Tim Diewold struck out Mitchell Gahan to end the game and preserve the Bulldogs' 6-5 win over Regina to advance to the state tournament.

'It's a tough one, it's a tough one,” first-year Regina Coach Jeff Pacha said. 'We didn't quit. (Mediapolis) is a good ballclub. They don't make errors, they throw strikes and they can hit.

'All the credit in the world goes to them. They beat us and I am just proud of our guys for fighting.”

The Regals (15-15) just dug themselves too big of a hole.

Mediapolis (21-9) struck first with two unearned runs in the second inning. The Bulldogs added two more runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

Regina had their chances, though. The Regals left runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.

'We didn't get some key hits in situations where we might have been able to scratch a couple across earlier where we didn't have to get six,” Pacha said. 'It's awful difficult to get six runs in one inning.”

Kelton Gourley started for the Bulldogs and held the Regals to four hits, walked two batters and struck out two in his six innings before Diewold pitched the seventh.

'I don't know if it was as much about the scouting report as it was Kelton just staying in his routine,” Mediapolis coach Gary Sharp said. 'That's what he has done all year long and he pretty much stuck with it.”

Payton Raso took the loss for Regina. He gave up six runs, four earned, 10 hits, walked four and struck out four in six innings.

Raso was 2-for-4 at the plate, Jacob Gahan was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Trent Hoogerwerf drove in two runs.