Jeff Johnson

Here’s your latest update on how professional baseball players in the affiliated minor leagues and major leagues are doing. Stats are through Thursday.

Jeremy Lee’s first home start for the Cedar Rapids Kernels was a disaster earlier this month. He didn’t get anyone out and gave up seven runs. But he was brilliant Thursday night in out-pitching a first-round draft pick and getting the victory in a 4-1 win over Beloit. It was a boost for a rotation that has three of its members on the injured list.

Doug Wagemester has been at Kirkwood Community College for 26 years, including 15 as head men’s basketball coach. He has gotten an opportunity to be part of a major-college program at Mississippi State, which is why he is stepping down as Kirkwood’s athletics director.

Jose Salas of the Cedar Rapids Kernels was traded by the Miami Marlins to the Minnesota Twins in January 2023. He played part of the 2022 minor league baseball season with Beloit of the Midwest League and beat them Wednesday afternoon with a clutch eighth-inning hit in an 8-6 C.R. win.

Six-foot-8 basketball forward Davis Kern had multiple Division I options when it came to finding a college home. But South Dakota State, which was first to offer him a scholarship, has won out, as the Linn-Mar senior-to-be recently committed to play for the Jackrabbits.

Cedar Rapids Kernels relief pitcher Jacob Wosinski was told by an umpire earlier this season to change his glove before he could throw because it was too light. It wasn’t an issue until that game and hasn’t been one since, including Sunday, when he threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his team’s 9-2 loss to Peoria.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels had their Midwest League first half end with a rainout Thursday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The second half began Friday night with a walk-off 6-5 win over the Peoria Chiefs

NBA players Kris and Keegan Murray returned to their high school alma mater Cedar Rapids Prairie on Thursday to be honored with a special wall display of them outside of the school’s main gymnasium and by having their Prairie jerseys retired and honorarily hung inside the gym.

Despite being just 5-foot-7, Payton Eeles has a big game. The 24-year-old was signed by the Minnesota Twins out of independent baseball and is aiming to make the most of his shot at affiliated ball, now with the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Urbandale native and former Iowa Hawkeyes pitcher Ty Langenberg’s big goal in his first professional baseball season was to at one point be with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He already achieved that last week when the parent Minnesota Twins promoted him from low-A Fort Myers.

Linn-Mar Athletic Director Tonya Moe said Monday that Ben Martens and Chad Tompkins will be interim co-head varsity football coaches for the 2024 season. They replace Tim Lovell, who recently announced his resignation

Here’s your latest update on how professional baseball players in the affiliated minor leagues and major leagues are fairing. Stats are through Friday.

Savannah Caves hit home runs in both games of this Tri-Rivers Conference prep softball doubleheader Thursday night at North Linn. A grand slam in the second game helped Alburnett to an eventual 8-7 win and the sweep.

Jackson Nove is a junior lefty relief pitcher for the University of Kentucky baseball team. The Wildcats have qualified for the Men’s College World Series for the first time, their first game in Omaha, Neb., Saturday afternoon against North Carolina State.

Pitcher Ty Langenberg has been promoted from low-Class A Fort Myers to the high-A Cedar Rapids Kernels, the parent Minnesota Twins announced Tuesday. Langenberg was an 11th-round draft pick of the Twins last summer out of the University of Iowa. The Urbandale native pitched three seasons for the Hawkeyes.