Lynnville-Sully wins Iowa 1A baseball title with win over St. Mary’s

CARROLL — Lynnville-Sully did two elite things to win the Class 1A championship at the Iowa high school baseball tournament.

Pitching and defending.

More: Iowa high school state baseball tournament: scores, bracket updates

Lucas Sieck threw 6 2/3 innings and the seven guys behind him and his catcher behind the plate did their jobs perfectly during the Hawks’ 7-1 victory over reigning champion Remsen St. Mary’s in the 1A finals Friday at Merchants Park.

“I was able to throw strikes and my defense was making plays all day,” Sieck said. “That was the majority of the game, my defense was making plays. They’ve done it all season.”

Sieck allowed just one run on five hits, striking out eight with just three walks as the winning pitcher in the championship game. St. Mary’s only run came in the bottom of the third inning when Hunter Pick hit an RBI double.

That was the only run Lynnville-Sully allowed in the entire tournament. The Hawks defeated Sigourney 2-0 in the semifinals after Sieck struck out 11 batters in five innings. They defeated Akron-Westfield 4-0 in the semifinals after Carson Maston struck out 12 in a complete-game shutout, allowing just five hits.

In Friday’s title game, Lynnville-Sully got out of a tight spot in the top of the fifth inning thanks to its defense. St. Mary’s put runners on first and second with no outs, but Lynnville-Sully’s infield trio of second baseman Jaiden Richards, shortstop Blake Van Wyk and first baseman Maston executed a perfect 4-6-3 double play.

In the seventh inning, St. Mary’s had the bases loaded with one out. Lynnville-Sully relief pitcher Jack Bowlin forced a fly ball to left for the second out. Then, St. Mary’s senior Collin Homan hit a fly ball to shallow right that looked like it would fall for a hit and score at least one run.

But Lynnville-Sully right fielder Terran Gosselink came on and made a diving catch that ended the game, giving the Hawks their first state championship since 1988.

“That double play when we got in foul trouble, that was the play of the game,” Sieck said. “That diving catch at the end — what a play. I can’t thank these guys enough for what they’ve done all season. They’ve just been great behind our pitching staff all season.”

Sieck admitted he knew the game was over before Gosselink’s electrifying catch. His team took a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning. Then they added to it with four runs in the top half of the inning to decide the game.

Corder Noun Harder hit an RBI single, Maston followed with a two-run double and Lannon Montgomery hit an RBI triple to center field.

“When we got that double from Carson Maston over (the St. Mary’s outfielder’s) head, it all hit us,” Sieck said. “We were going to win.”

Lynnville Sully also scored twice in the first and once in the fifth. Maston drove in three runs, Montgomery drove in two, Noun Harder was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and Gosselink went 2-for-3 with two runs to help Lynnville-Sully avenge last year’s state semifinal loss to St. Mary’s. The state champions finished the season with a 29-3 record.

St. Mary’s went 25-5 and advanced to the 1A title game for the third straight time.

“I think we’ve got some young kids coming in that are going to be hungry,” St. Mary’s coach Dean Harpenau said. “They don’t want to be the first group that doesn’t make it. Obviously, we’re going to try to get here (to state) for the 10th year in a row.”

Collin Homan took the loss for St. Mary’s after allowing six earned runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts and no walks in seven innings. Homan and Pick each doubled at the plate, and Loucks, Brady Koenck and Keaton Harpenau each singled for St. Mary’s.

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at [email protected]Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman