Jeff Johnson

It has been a great first week of the Midwest League season offensively for Rubel Cespedes of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He had three hits, including a home run, in C.R.’s 8-5 win Saturday over Dayton

Brad Meester played 14 seasons in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Inspired by Ed Thomas, his late head coach at Aplington-Parkersburg, he decided to get into coaching himself when he retired as a player.

Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher Andrew Morris threw six terrific innings Thursday night in his team’s 8-4 win over Dayton. Despite being just 22, this is his third professional baseball season after pitching four years of college ball. He graduated from high school in Colorado at age 16.

Thomas Vandenberg of Nepean, Ontario, has signed an official United States Hockey League tender agreement with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. The 15-year-old center counts as C.R.’s first-round pick in the upcoming USHL Draft, Phase I

Iowa City High announced Tuesday that Bill McTaggart will be its new head varsity boys’ basketball coach. McTaggart spent 23 successful seasons as girls’ head coach, including winning a state championship.

Winger Nico Blachman of the Iowa Heartlanders is a fan favorite and engaging guy who left his Florida home at 13 to play prep school hockey in Minnesota. He has played for 20 junior, college and professional teams in 10 years and vows to keep going as an enforcer type of player.

This is Brian Dinkelman’s ninth season as a member of the Cedar Rapids Kernels coaching staff, his fifth as manager. He was named 2023 Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America.

A junior pitcher with an arm that throws high-90s fastballs and wipeout sliders has scuffled in his last two starts. Iowa’s coaches decided to get Brody Brecht another bullpen session with pitching coach Sean McGrath this week and push him back in the rotation. He did some good things but still allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 10-6 loss to Michigan on Saturday in the second game of a double-header at Banks Field.

Jonas Lovin and Argenis Arguello are the pitching coaches this season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Lovin gave in-depth reports on a Kernels starting rotation that has a lot of promise as the 2024 Midwest League season begins Friday.

Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller said Thursday that his team will be without Andy Nelson and Sam Petersen for its Big Ten Conference series this weekend against Michigan. Those are the top two in the Hawkeyes batting order. They are dealing with injuries.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels won the Midwest League championship last season, the city’s first since 1994. An 82-50 regular-season record was the best in all of the minor leagues. The 2024 season begins Friday at Beloit, with this team featuring an experienced starting pitching rotation.

Iowa junior guard Payton Sandfort has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft, the school announced Tuesday. He has until May 29 to remove his name from draft consideration.

At this point last month, Mark Carlson was believed to be on the verge of setting the United States Hockey League record for most career coaching victories. But the league then discovered they had miscalculated Carlson’s win total. Having already reached out to RoughRiders alumni and others in the hockey world for comment on playing for Carlson, The Gazette has decided to not wait until next season when Carlson does indeed break the USHL wins record. Here is what NHL players like Ross Colton had to say.

The Iowa Hawkeyes host Minnesota for three Big Ten Conference games this weekend at Banks Field. Sophomore southpaw Cade Obermueller gets the pitching start Saturday in hopes of continuing good beginning to the college baseball season

This spring training was different for Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller. Gone are the questions about whether the Cedar Rapids resident is a legit major league starting pitcher.