Jeff Johnson

Western Dubuque’s top-ranked and top-seeded baseball team scored three runs each in the second and third innings and two each in the fourth and five to whack Harlan, 10-0, in Monday night’s Class 3A state tournament quarterfinals.

An innocuous-looking infield hit to shortstop with one out in the fifth inning seemed to spark Carlisle, which went on to piece together a five-run rally that beat Marion, 5-2, in a Class 3A state baseball tournament quarterfinal Monday afternoon.

Marion won the Class 3A state baseball tournament in 2021. Western Dubuque won it all last year. They both are part of the 2023 3A field and in opposite ends of the bracket. Could they meet in the final? Stay tuned.

Cedar Rapids Washington grad Jake Bockenstedt did not get taken in this past week’s Major League Baseball Draft but fielded phone calls at its conclusion from multiple clubs who wanted to sign him as a free agent. The pitcher from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville eventually chose the Chicago White Sox.

Cedar Falls starting pitcher Shae Buskohl used curveball after curveball after curveball to stymie Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s offense Wednesday night in a Class 4A substate baseball final at Kennedy. Buskohl threw a two-hitter and struck out 12 in a 2-0 victory that sends his team to next week’s state tournament.

North Scott senior Maddy McDermott was intentionally walked her first three at-bats of Tuesday night’s Class 4A regional final softball game, Cedar Rapids Xavier choosing not to deal with her offensive prolificy. The Saints did have to deal with her pitching, which was good enough for a 6-0 North Scott win.

The six seniors on the Lisbon High School softball team have combined to play 842 games in their careers. Most of those games have been successful, including Monday night’s 11-1, five-inning regional final win over South Winneshiek that sent the Lions to the state tournament for a sixth-straight year

Western Dubuque graduate and Ole Miss catcher Calvin Harris was taken by the Chicago White Sox in the fourth round of Monday’s Major League Baseball Draft. Iowa Hawkeyes pitcher Jared Simpson also was drafted.

Cedar Rapids Xavier graduate Mitch Keller has seen the lowest of the lows in his professional baseball career. As a first-time all-star, the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and his family are now enjoying some of the highest of the highs.

Cedar Rapids Kernels reliever Niklas Rimmel got to pitch in front of his parents Sunday for the first time as a professional baseball player. They are visiting their son from Germany. Rimmel threw two perfect innings in his team’s 6-5 loss to Quad Cities.

A look at how former Eastern Iowa high school and University of Iowa baseball players are doing in affiliated professional baseball.

Getting ahead in the count allowed Cedar Rapids Kernels starting pitcher Jaylen Nowlin to go a season-high six innings and strike out 10 batters as he beat Quad Cities, 3-2, Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Catcher Andrew Cossetti of the Cedar Rapids Kernels has a grandfather who served as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War. His twin brother, Anthony, is a United States Naval Academy graduate who is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center studying to become a doctor. Baseball on the Fourth of July means a to him

Cedar Rapids Xavier graduate Mitch Keller was named Sunday to the National League team playing in July 11th’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Seattle. The Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher is the first C.R. native to be an all-star and is Iowa’s first all-star since 2014.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels employ nine people for four important, yet unnoticed jobs for each home game at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Those who are official scorers, scoreboard operators, pitch-clock operators and stringers say they what they do for their love of baseball.