Jeff Johnson

Saturday was the Crosstown Classic in Solon, an event featuring three prep baseball games and youth baseball and softball games. It’s a fundraiser for The Fight With Flash Foundation in honor of Austin “Flash” Schroeder of Iowa City, who died of lymphoma at the age of 15 in 2015. Flash’s favorite sport was baseball

The ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders released their 2024-25 schedule Tuesday. The fourth-year club plays the expansion Bloomington Bison, its nearest geographic competitor, 15 times.

It was all Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the first game of Monday night’s big Mississippi Valley Conference baseball doubleheader at Kennedy, 11-1 in six innings. But the Cougars had to rally in Game 2 to post an 8-7 win and a sweep.

If the Cedar Rapids Kernels are going to win the Midwest League Western Division first-half championship, they’ll have to do it on the road. The club heads to Michigan for two weeks and 12 games, 1.5 games behind leader Wisconsin.

Andrew Oglevie played 211 USHL regular-season games with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, the second-most in team history by one. After playing in college at Notre Dame and three years in the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres organization, concussions forced him to retire. He’s now an assistant coach at Colorado College, back in town this weekend to observe the RoughRiders’ annual tryout camp.

Here’s a look at how players from Eastern Iowa and the University of Iowa are doing in affiliated professional baseball, including major leaguers Mitch Keller, Colin Rea and A.J. Puk.

Former University of Iowa and NFL tight end Scott Chandler had no desire to become a football coach when his playing career ended. But watching the Netflix series “Last Chance U” changed his mind, and he was named head coach earlier this week at Iowa City Liberty High School.

Corner infielder Kevin Maitan accrued $6.45 million in signing bonus money from two MLB organizations as a teenager from Venezuela. He never got past Double-A, was released last season by the Los Angeles Angels and signed out of independent baseball recently by the Minnesota Twins. He’s with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, trying to enjoy the game again and rebuild his career.

Utility guy Dalton Shuffield is in his third season in the Minnesota Twins organization. He has played at every level there is, minus the big leagues. That includes three levels this season, right now in high-Class A with the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Linn-Mar is looking for a new head varsity football coach after Tim Lovell turned in his resignation Thursday. Lovell was Lions coach for three seasons after spending the previous five seasons at Marion.

Iowa’s baseball season came to a conclusion Thursday afternoon as the Hawkeyes fell to Illinois, 4-2, in 10 innings in a Big Ten tournament loser’s bracket game at Omaha’s Charles Schwab Field.

Michigan scored a run in the bottom of the 10th inning on a none-out, bases-loaded walk to beat Iowa, 3-2, in a Big Ten baseball tournament first-round game Wednesday afternoon.

Coe College’s softball team plays at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland this weekend in a NCAA Division III super regional. If the Kohawks win the best-of-3 series, they’ll qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships in Texas for a second consecutive year.

The University of Iowa baseball team knows it needs to win this week’s Big Ten Conference tournamnt for its season to continue. Coach Rick Heller said he feels his team is ready.

The Minnesota Twins signed Ricardo Olivar out of Venezuela in 2019 for a paltry $20,000. The Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher-outfielder has developed into a legit Twins prospect.