Jeff Johnson

The Iowa Heartlanders announced Friday they have signed head coach and general manager Derek Damon to a multi-year contract extension. Damon has been part of the Heartlanders organization since their inaugural ECHL season.

Coe’s baseball team got great pitching and held on to beat Buena Vista, 4-3, in the American Rivers Conference tournament, advancing to Saturday’s championship.

The University of Iowa baseball team plays three games this weekend at first-place Illinois. The Hawkeyes are in a good spot to make the league tournament, but can solidify things and put themselves into contention for a regular-season championship with a sweep.

Of course, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders wanted guys who could skate, who had skill, who could make plays, score goals and all that. But in the recently concluded United States Hockey League Draft, head coach/general manager Mark Carlson and his coaching and scouting staff went beyond that.

The architect of an incredible run of 234-9 over the last nine seasons and seven consecutive state boys’ basketball tournament championship appearances, Mike Hilmer is leaving North Linn to take the superintendent’s job at Bellevue.

Dubuque Wahlert graduate Cael Schmitt started four seasons at point guard for Coe College, helping the Kohawks reach back-to-back NCAA Division III national basketball tournaments. He entered the transfer portal for his graduate season and has committed to Northern Iowa as a rare kid going from D-III to Division I.

Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher Nate Baez broke the hamate bone in his left hand in college and broke the hamate bone in his right hand last spring training. He’s back healthy and had a big game Sunday afternoon in his team’s 6-0 win over Peoria.

His full name is Daniel Zebulon Matthews, but the Cedar Rapids Kernels starting pitcher goes by the first name Zebby. He’s been awesome the first month of the Midwest League baseball season and appears to have a promising future.

Here’s the second edition of Eastern Iowans In The Minors and Majors. It’s a look at Gazette-area players and how they are doing in affiliated professional baseball. Four pitchers are in the majors in Mitch Keller (Pirates), A.J. Puk (Athletics), Keaton Winn (Giants) and Colin Rea (Brewers).

The Iowa baseball team plays a three-game Big Ten Conference series at home this weekend against last-place Northwestern. The Hawkeyes still could win the league’s regular-season championship but also still could finish out of the top eight and out of the conference tournament.

Right-handed relief pitcher Ricardo Velez took a circuitous route to affiliated professional baseball. He doesn’t have the biggest fastball, but throws five different pitches to keep hitters’ timing off. He has five saves in five opportunities this season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Willie Joe Garry Jr. saved his father’s life by performing CPR on him in 2016. Garry Jr. was 15 years old at the time and had just become CPR certified a month before Willie Joe Garry Sr.’s cardiac episode.

Though he’s got one now, Cedar Rapids Kernels infielder Jay Harry decided not to hire an agent as he went through the Major League Baseball Draft process last year. The Minnesota Twins selected the former Penn State player in the sixth round, and he made an impression with five hits in big league spring training games.

Cedar Rapids Kernels starting pitcher John Klein picked up the win Wednesday night against Beloit. Always a catcher, he didn’t really being throwing regularly until going to Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, where his pitching coach was Jonas Lovin, who’s one of his pitching coaches now in professional baseball.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels gave out 1,000 replica rings celebrating their 2023 Midwest League championship Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.