From Portland, with love for West's Cronk

DES MOINES - He rushed for more than 1,500 yards as a prep football player in Oregon and has helped pitch and hit Iowa City West to the Class 4A semifinals of the state baseball tournament. Quite a sports year for Jeremy Cronk.

The senior moved from the Portland suburbs for the spring semester in part to increase his visibility to college baseball programs. He signed to play at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City and hopes to play for a Division I or II program.

Cronk is living with his uncle, Tom, and family in Iowa City. Tom Cronk is West's assistant coach.

“It was a little nerve-racking at first,” Jeremy Cronk said. “You didn't know what to expect. I heard that they have had some good teams here, made good runs at state the last couple of years. So I was a little nervous coming all the way across the U.S.

“But as soon as I got here, everyone was welcoming. They treated me like a teammate, like I had been playing here all four years with them. It was pretty easy to adjust.”

Jeremy went out for track and field at West to eat up the 90 days he had to sit as a transfer, via Iowa High School Athletic Association rules. He has hit 13 home runs for the Trojans (32-10), who play top-seeded West Des Moines Dowling in today's 6 p.m. semifinals at Principal Park, and emerged as their top pitcher, picking up the win in West's 6-3 quarterfinal win Wednesday over Southeast Polk.

“It's just amazing,” Cronk said. “There's no other word. It's amazing.”

Cronk's pitching has been a huge lift for a West team that has been without ace Ryan Rumpf most of the season. Rumpf, an Iowa signee, has hit over .500 as an infielder but has thrown just 21 innings because of a shoulder problem.

Rumpf threw the seventh inning against Southeast Polk and gave up two runs.

“We got the win, so it's fine, right?” Rumpf said. “(My arm) is not where it should be, or where it needs to be. Not where I want it to be.”

Three of the four semifinalists in 4A are from the Central Iowa Metro League. Mason City (34-9) and Fort Dodge (30-12) follow the West-Dowling game tonight at 8. There were five CIML teams in the 4A field.

In 3A, it's an all Wamac Conference semifinal at noon when Marion (27-16) faces Solon (37-4). The Spartans swept a regular-season doubleheader, but one of the games was close (3-1).

The other 3A semi is Washington, Iowa, (30-7) against Harlan (20-14). Washington is the third seed, Harlan the seventh.

CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS

SOLON (37-4) vs. MARION (27-16)

When: Noon today

Where: Principal Park, Des Moines

Noteworthy: The top-seeded Spartans smacked Waukon, 11-0, in a five-inning quarterfinal Tuesday. Fifth-seeded Marion shut out Storm Lake, 3-0. These teams played twice in the regular season, with Solon winning both, 3-1 and 15-3 in five innings. The anticipated pitching matchup is Ryan Butler (7-1, 2.25 ERA) for Solon and sophomore Levi Lochner (6-0, 1.20 ERA) for Marion. Butler beat Marion in the regular season, while Lochner did not pitch against Solon. The Indians must keep Solon's big three of Derrick Loveless, Nick Day and Marshall Koehn relatively in check and get big games from seniors like Kasey Semler, Dusty Albaugh and Zach Nielsen.

WASHINGTON (30-7) vs. HARLAN (20-14)

When: 2 p.m. today

Where: Principal Park, Des Moines

Noteworthy: Third-seeded Washington rallied for eight runs in its final two at-bats to oust Adel-DeSoto-Minburn in Tuesday's quarterfinals, 8-4. Harlan ousted second-seeded Boone, 6-4, behind a three-run sixth inning. Josh Moore had three hits and won in relief Tuesday for Washington. The Demons have a deep pitching staff with four main hurlers who have earned run averages of 3.68 or lower. Harlan's top two hitters are third baseman Ben Bruck (.471 average) and first baseman Alex Brown (.411).

CLASS 4A SEMIFINAL

IOWA CITY WEST (32-10) vs. W.D.M. DOWLING (34-7)

When: 6 p.m. today

Where: Principal Park, Des Moines

Noteworthy: Fifth-seeded West looks to advance to the 4A championship game for the third year in a row. The Trojans are still looking for their first title. West brushed past Southeast Polk in Wednesday's quarterfinals, 6-3, behind nine walks. Dowling is the top seed and beat Davenport Central in the quarterfinals, 7-1. Anticipate Will Ross (3-2, 3.00 ERA) getting the ball for West, which will try to generate some offense against a Dowling pitching staff that leads the 4A tourney in ERA (2.41).