Jeff Johnson

You all know about Mason Bechen, Cole Griffith and Cael Benesh, three senior multi-year starters for the North Linn baseball team. But those three didn’t shine as much in a 13-13, six-inning Class 1A district win Tuesday night over Midland as some of these young buck: freshmen, sophomores and eighth-graders that seem certain to keep the Lynx on the winning track in the future.

Quad Cities River Bandits infielder Sam Kulasingam went 2-for-4 Sunday in his team’s 5-3 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels. He’s an Air Force Academy graduate who is obligated for four years of military service after his pro baseball career ends, even if he makes it to the major leagues.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Quad Cities River Bandits played three times earlier this week in Davenport and are playing three times this weekend in Cedar Rapids. It’s the first time they have opposed each other this Midwest League season, despite the clubs being in the same division and only 80 miles apart geographically.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels won the Midwest League Western Division first-half championship but went into Friday night’s July 4th home game against Quad Cities just 4-8 in the MWL’s second half. They haven’t played especially sound baseball, though Manager Brian Meyer pointed out every team has those spells in a long 132-game season.

Former Iowa Hawkeyes forward and Cedar Rapids Prairie graduate Keegan Murray showed off a sweet left-handed stroke while playing in Monday’s Zach Johnson Foundation Classic at Elmcrest Country Club. He just completed his third season with the Sacramento Kings of the NBA and has been the subject of trade speculation, which he knows is just part of the deal in professional sports.

Relief pitcher Hunter Hoopes has had a good season, getting promoted from low-Class A Fort Myers to the high-A Cedar Rapids Kernels in early June. He was signed by the parent Minnesota Twins in July 2024 after a video was posted to YouTube of him throwing a fastball 100 miles per hour as an instructor at Tread Athletics, a pitching training and development company in North Carolina.

Infielder-outfielder Brandon Winokur of the Cedar Rapids Kernels is just 20 years old, young for the high-Class A Midwest League. But you can see his talent, and he’s having his best month of the season here in June.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels lost Wednesday afternoon to South Bend, 4-1, at Veterans Memorial Stadium. They didn’t have many opportunities to steal bases, which has been a big weapon this season for them. They already have more swiped bags in 70 games than last season’s Kernels had in 132. And they are swiping them at an 88-percent clip.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy won last year’s Class 4A state baseball championship, graduating a ton of talent from that team. That made this year’s Cougars a work in progress. But after an 11-5 win Monday night over second-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie, Kennedy has won six games in a row and 10 of 11.

Here is your fourth look at how Eastern Iowans and former University of Iowa baseball players are doing in the early going of the 2025 Major League Baseball and minor league seasons.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels clinched the first-half championship of the Midwest League Western Division with a Thursday double-header sweep at Beloit. They began the second half of the 132-game regular season Friday night secure in knowing they will be part of the MWL playoffs for the 11th time in 12 years as a Minnesota Twins affiliate.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels won a Thursday night double-header at Beloit, 2-0 and 5-4, to secure the Midwest League Western Division first-half championship and corresponding playoff berth at the end of the season. This is the 11th time in 12 seasons as a Minnesota Twins affiliate that the Kernels are postseason qualifiers.

Cedar Rapids Xavier’s softball team is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A and 25-0 after a double-header sweep of Class 5A No. 7 Cedar Rapids Prairie on Thursday night, 10-0 and 1-0, at Xavier.

The Iowa Heartlanders announced Tuesday that Chuck Weber has been hired as the ECHL franchise’s new head coach. Weber, 52, has been a head coach and assistant coach in the ECHL, the American Hockey League, England and Division I college hockey. He won two Kelly Cup championships in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Brian Meyer is in his first season as manager of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Meyer’s wife, Ashley, and 6-year-old son Walker joined him from their home in Florida for the rest of the summer earlier this week. That made Father’s Day at the ballpark Sunday pretty special.