Kirkwood baseball moves on to World Series

CEDAR RAPIDS – Some young boys made their way onto the Kirkwood Community College diamond postgame Saturday afternoon, baseballs and pens in hand.

They made a beeline toward pitcher Tyler Tscherter, asking him for an autograph. That’s where they should have gone.

Tscherter provided an autograph-worthy performance for his Eagles, throwing a complete-game two-hitter as Kirkwood beat Miles Community College of Montana, 9-1, to win the NJCAA Division II North Plains district championship.

Kirkwood (42-20) gets a spot in the D-II World Series next week in Enid, Okla., the school’s second trip there in the last four years. That’s the second time in three seasons, since last year’s tournament was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We definitely played some really good ball this weekend,” said Kirkwood outfielder Chase Moseley. “But I’m not surprised by our performance. The coaches, they prepare us. Their preparation for us is immaculate, just unbelievable. (Assistant) Coach Pete (Lauritson), he always has our offense prepared for every level of competition. So I think going into Enid, we won’t have a problem at all.”

Moseley hit two home runs for Kirkwood, half of the team’s total on this cloudy, windy, sometimes misty day. Josh Fitzgerald’s three-run shot in the second inning gave the Eagles an early 4-0 edge that was more than enough for Tscherter.

Way more than enough.

Tscherter, a freshman from Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School, didn’t allow a baserunner until a walk in the fifth and had a no-hitter going until Miles stud Dawson Parry took him deep for a home run with two outs in the seventh. Parry led NJCAA Division II in batting average, home runs and RBIs this season.

But other than a single in the eighth, that was it for Miles (44-16), which came into this best-of-three series averaging 9.7 runs a game but was held to three in a pair of games this weekend.

“It was just locating my fastball,” said Tscherter, who struck out nine. “I mean, I knew that if they put a barrel on it, it was going to go to one of my guys, and they were going to make plays. I just had to get a zero up on the scoreboard and get our offense back in (the dugout). Our bats have been hot for a long time. So if I got us back in, I knew our bats would get going.”

It was Tscherter’s first complete game. Considering the stakes and that most of Kirkwood’s games were seven innings this season instead of nine, that added to the impressiveness.

Religiously getting ahead in the count was key for the right-hander with the powder-blue glove that perfectly matched his team’s jerseys.

“That’s what we like about Tyler in a big game, is that he’s a strike thrower,” said Kirkwood Coach Todd Rima. “His stuff was electric today. He kept going right at them, we made good plays behind him. But I think he’s the story of the day the way he pitched and competed in the biggest game of the year.”

Kirkwood was on the verge of elimination in its regional tournament last weekend but won two in a row to reach the district final, including rallying from four down in the ninth of the winner-take-all game. Only two sophomores played Saturday, though that’s misleading in that there are a number of redshirt freshmen contributors who got an extra year of eligibility due to the cancellation of last season.

Regardless, the way Kirkwood played Friday and Saturday, it would seem to be a tough out in Oklahoma. The tournament runs May 29 through June 4-5.

“We really liked this team coming in,” Rima said. “This was a team we thought had a chance to be really special. This team has been through a lot: injuries, you’re dealing with the COVID situation, the protocols. It has been fun to watch them grow throughout the year. Where we were early, we struggled, and just watched them just stick with it and continue to grow. They got to the point where we won. Their goal was to get to Enid and make something happen there, and now they get that opportunity.”

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