Mount Vernon can't cash in

DES MOINES - The Mount Vernon Mustangs finally gave up a postseason run. Two of them.Two too many, as it turned out. Well, one too many.Freshman Tyler Hovick's RBI single in the top of the sixth inning proved to be the winner as Roland-Story edged Mount Vernon, 2-1, in a swiftly played Class 2A state tournament quarterfinal Monday afternoon.The Mustangs (26-15) threw three consecutive shutouts to get to Principal Park, and starting pitcher Cal Kragenbrink was plenty stingy again here. Just not quite stingy enough."Our defense played really well, kept us in the game the whole way," said Mount Vernon catcher Conner Welch. "Cal pitched a great game. I don't know, nothing was dropping for us. We'd have great hits, but they were right to them. It was frustrating, really frustrating."These were similar clubs in that they generally play good defense, have solid pitching and struggle to score a lot of runs. So you knew one big hit would likely decide the winner.Zach Hovick (brother of Tyler) singled through the left side leading off the game for Roland-Story (28-13), was bunted to second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly. But Kragenbrink retired 16 Norsemen in a row, allowing MV to tie it in the fourth on a perfectly executed squeeze play in which Welch scored on a Jake Pisarik bunt.No. 9 hitter Alex Urbanek ended Kragenbrink's outs streak with a one-out double to left-center in the sixth. Zach Hovick singled him to third, and Tyler Hovick brought him in with a clean single to center."My body didn't feel (tired), but I was leaving pitches up in the zone," said Kragenbrink, who allowed just four baserunners (all on hits) the entire game. "They were able to get on base a couple of times and get that run right there."Mount Vernon had baserunners in every inning but the first against Zach Hovick but just could not clutch up. A key statistic in this game, perhaps the most key, was runners left on base: Mount Vernon 8, Roland-Story 2."We really preach defense, and we came out and made some good plays," said Zach Hovick, who allowed five hits and four walks in a complete-game win that improved his record to 12-3. "I threw strikes and made them put it in play. The guys made the plays behind me. That's kind of how we like to play.""We didn't strike out a lot, put the ball in play," said Mount Vernon Coach Jeremy Elliott. "We just didn't find the holes today. I'm proud that the guys continued to battle. We got baserunners on to give ourselves a chance. You have to give them credit for making every play they had to. They're a good defensive team."Elliott was asked about a season in which his team overcame one injury after another. Kragenbrink missed three weeks with a sore arm, third baseman Luke Eldred suffered a season-ending broken hip in early July, his brother, C.J. didn't pitch all season as he recovered from two leg surgeries.It got so ridiculous that left fielder Luke Hansen missed the state tournament after coming down with mononucleosis."The boys did a fantastic job," Elliott said. "As a coach, that's what you want, consistent improvement ... These guys just stuck with it all year. You always have ups and downs, and they learned from the downs. They just got better.""After we beat Northeast (Goose Lake) to get to state, I thought we were set," Welch said. "We were really rolling. Then another illness comes in. We haven't gotten a break this year. It was just constantly putting new people in. The freshmen did a fabulous job this year."They all did.