Des Moines Iowa — Thursday marked semifinal day for both Class 1A and 2A at the State Baseball Tournament in Des Moines. In Class 1A Remsen St Mary’s and Akron Westfield, a pair of War Eagle Conference teams were both involved in semifinal play.
Class 1A Semifinals Newman Catholic 2, Remsen St. Mary’s 0
The Newman Catholic Knights defeated the Remsen St. Mary’s Hawks 2-0 Thursday at Principal Park in a Class 1A semifinal game to advance to the championship round.
The Knights scored two runs in the third inning after an error put a runner at second base to leadoff the inning. The error was followed by doubles from Josh Fitzgerald and Evan Paulus to give Newman the lead. Caden Kratz earned the win for the Knights, throwing a complete-game shutout and allowing just three hits and two walks, while striking out 10 batters.
Jacob Wesselmann took the loss for Remsen St. Mary’s. Wesselmann went six innings, allowed only six hits and gave up just one earned run. The Hawks offense was led by designated hitter Blaine Harpenau who had two of the Hawks three hits.
Remsen St. Mary’s finishes the at 28-8, while Newman Catholic improves to 34-3 on the season.
Martensdale-St.Mary’s 6, Akron-Westfield 1
Martensdale-St. Marys defeated Akron-Westfield 6-1 in the other Class 1A semifinal game Thursday. The Blue Devils grabbed the lead with a run in the first, and never looked back to secure the win and advance to the finals on Saturday.
The Blue Devils scored two more in the third, one in the fourth and two in the sixth to seal the victory. Brady Gavin pitched five innings in relief and struck out 10 batters to earn the win.
Austin Allard and Nick Jacobs led the offense for Akron-Westfield, going 2-for-3 and 3-for-3 in the contest. Dylan Irizarry took the loss for the Westerners, going two and one third innings and giving up three runs. Only one run was earned.
Akron-Westfield finishes the season at 32-3, while Martensdale-St. Marys improves to 41-4. The Blue Devils will take on the Newman Catholic Knights on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Class 1A championship game.
Saturday’s championship
11 a.m. — Newman Catholic (34-3) vs Martensdale-St.Marys (41-4)
RANKED TEAMS: 1. North Linn; 2. Newman; 3. MSTM; 4. Akron-Westfield; 6. Lisbon.
TOP SEEDS: 1. Newman; 2. MSTM; 3. Akron-Westfield; 4. North Linn.
Class 2A Semifinals
Beckman Catholic 8, Iowa City Regina 0
Kuemper Catholic 6, Centerville 2
Saturday’s championship
1:30 p.m. — Beckman Catholic (30-11) vs. Kuemper Catholic (22-12)
RANKED TEAMS: 2. Treynor; 7. Beckman; 8. Van Meter; 9. Regina.
TOP SEEDS: 1. Beckman; 2. Van Meter; 3. ELC; 4. Regina.
