Jeff Johnson

Iowa City West grad and 2021 Gazette Male Athlete of the Year Marcus Morgan was taken Monday afternoon by the Philadelphia Phillies in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball Draft. The junior pitcher was one of three Iowa Hawkeyes drafted Monday and one of four selected overall thus far in the 20-round draft.

Brody Brecht was expected to a be a first-round pick in Sunday night’s Major League Baseball Draft. But the former Hawkeye dropped to the Competitive Balance-A Round, where the Colorado Rockies plucked him 38th overall.

Derek Weisskopf of Williamsburg is The Gazette’s 2024 Male Athlete of the Year. Team oriented is a virtually unanimous description of the soon-to-be Iowa Hawkeyes linebacker.

The Alburnett High School baseball team has hit one home run in 36 games this season. These Pirates score by getting guys on base, getting them over and getting them in, including by squeeze bunting, which they did Tuesday night in a 4-3 Class 2A district semifinal win over Jesup.

Here are some tidbits on the Cedar Rapids Kernels, who have gotten off to a 10-4 second-half start in the Midwest League and went into Saturday a season-high 16 games over .500 overall. Outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez went on the injured list in early May with a back injury but recently returned and has been swinging it well.

The University of Iowa has hired Sean Kenny as its baseball program’s new pitching coach. He has 28 seasons of college coaching experience.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels beat Beloit, 7-3, Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium. That improved their home record for 29-11 this Midwest League season, a .725 win percentage that is the best in all of full-season minor league baseball.

The Boston Bruins selected defenseman Elliott Groenewold of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the fourth round of the National Hockey League Draft on Saturday. Defenseman Gabriel Eliasson went in the second round to the Ottawa Senators. He is expected to play for C.R. this coming season.

Bill Quinby insisted on not having a funeral, but OKed a celebration of life, which happened Saturday at Coe College. Dignitaries such as former Iowa Governor Chet Culver and University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz spoke, honoring one of Cedar Rapids’ finest, who died in April at age 92.

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.