Jeff Johnson

This is the first homestand in two and a half weeks for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. There are 12 different players on the active roster since the last time C.R. played at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels split a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader with Quad Cities.

A lot of encouraging things. Here are 5 observations we noticed about the Hawkeyes football team during Kids Day practice.

Transfer QB Mark Gronowski, the return of some good linemen and deep running back and receiver groups has the Hawkeyes excited about making more progress offensively in the 2025 football season.

The Minnesota Twins dealing 11 players in trades last week brought in a number of minor league prospects. Three of them have been assigned to the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Midwest League club has a whopping nine new players on the active roster from just a week ago.

Here is another look at how Eastern Iowans and former University of Iowa baseball players are doing in the early going of the 2025 Major League Baseball and minor league seasons.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels have employed a six-man starting rotation this Midwest League season. But things have worked differently this week, with a couple of starters throwing in multiple games in shortened outings. With a starter going on the injured list Friday, it’ll be interesting to see how things are pieced together for the club as it begins a two-week road trip Tuesday night.

Minnesota Twins prospect Kyle DeBarge stole his 50th base this Midwest League season in a game Thursday night against Fort Wayne. He has 51 total and been caught just three times. The infielder also has two walk-off hits this week against the Tincaps.

Iowa City High beat Bettendorf, 4-1, Friday afternoon in the Class 4A state championship baseball game in Sioux City. It’s the school’s first such title in the sport and its first in any sport since 2011.

Samuel Perez threw two shutout innings Wednesday afternoon for the Cedar Rapids Kernels to pick up the win as his team walked off Fort Wayne, 5-4, at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The left-hander has allowed just two earned runs the past three months despite a fastball that’s generally just 86 to 87 miles per hour.

Iowa City Liberty’s baseball team scored a run in the top of the first inning in its Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal Tuesday night against Waukee Northwest. But the Wolves couldn’t dent Northwest pitcher Chuck Berdovich the rest of the way, and Northwest went on to a 4-1 victory.

Waukee scored three runs in the top of the first inning to take an immediate lead on Iowa City High in a Class 4A state baseball tournament quarterfinal Tuesday afternoon. But the Little Hawks scored the final five runs, including three in the sixth to win, 5-3.

No. 7 seeded Hawks’ 6-0 quaterfinal victory over No. 2 Johnston may have been an upset seeding wise but wasn’t entirely suprising and here’s why.

Cedar Rapids Prairie baseball coach James Nelson was asked recently who he considered to be the MVP of a Hawks team that plays Tuesday afternoon at the state baseball tournament in Sioux City. He answered Kamren Francois, a senior shortstop hitting .455 and heading to play college ball at Southeastern Community College in Burlington.

Relief pitcher Nick Trabacchi of the Cedar Rapids Kernels is 26 years old. He threw collegiately at Maryland-Baltimore County and Division II Shepherd, not exactly big-time programs. He then spent four years in independent leagues, finally getting his shot in affiliated ball in late May when the Minnesota Twins signed him.

Poncho Ruiz began this baseball season for low-Class A Fort Myers, promoted to the Cedar Rapids Kernels in late May. His steadiness, especially defensively, has been a boon for the Kernels. Ruiz, 23, is from Tijuana, Mexico, traveling across the border each day to attend high school in Chula Vista, California.