STATE BASEBALL: Clock Strikes Midnight
One big inning, one big bomb sends top-seeded Newman past TrojansBy Troy Banning, DFJ Sports Editor
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NORTHEAST HAMILTONMC NEWMAN
ab r h biab r h bi
Holtkamp 3b2 0 0 0Weber cf3 1 1 0
Seaman rf3 0 1 0Dummett p3 0 1 1
LMechaelsen lf3 0 0 0Adams c3 1 2 1
Anderson c3 0 1 0Heiny cr0 0 0 0
Harreld 1b3 0 0 0Lewerke 3b4 0 1 2
NRapp p3 0 1 0King 2b3 0 0 0
Klaver ss2 1 0 0Kruckenberg dh3 1 1 0
MMechaelsen dh3 0 1 0Braun 1b0 0 0 0
CRapp 2b0 0 0 0McCann ss2 0 1 0
Greenfield cf2 0 0 0Nettleton rf2 0 0 0
McGowan ph1 0 0 0Nygaard 1b0 1 0 0
Vanous lf2 1 0 0
Totals25 1 4 025 5 7 4
Northeast Hamilton000 010 0 - 1
Mason City Newman000 401 x - 5
E-Holtkamp, McCann. LOB-Northeast Hamilton 6, Mason City Newman 8. Sac-McCann. SB-McCann, Nygaard 2. 2B-Weber, Adams. HR-Adams.
IP H R ER BB SO
Northeast Hamilton
NRapp L, 11-36 7 5 1 3 2
Mason City Newman
Dummett W, 8-05 2 1 1 3 9
Braun2 2 0 0 0 2
BK-Dummett. HBP-Adams and Nettleton by NRapp.
DES MOINES - Being good isn't always good enough.
By all accounts, the Northeast Hamilton baseball team represented itself well on Monday during Class 1A quarterfinal-round play at the state baseball tournament inside Principal Park. The Trojans were sharp defensively, they got another strong outing on the hill from senior southpaw Noah Rapp and they refused to be intimidated by their opponent - fourth-ranked and top-seeded Mason City Newman.
But when you get to the big stage - on the pristine grass of Sec Taylor Field in front of bigger crowds that ever before - you've got to be darned near perfect to advance.
The eighth-seeded Trojans had one defensive hiccup that led to four unearned runs for Newman in the fourth inning and the Knights added an insurance run in the sixth - courtesy of a solo home run off the bat of all-state junior Jordan Adams - to push into the semifinal round with a 5-1 victory.
"I'm really proud of our showing and we have absolutely nothing to hang our heads about or be upset about," Northeast Hamilton head coach Brandon Kelley said after his squad saw its season end at 18-9 overall. "But when you get to the state tournament, errors are going to be magnified. When you're playing good teams, one or two errors will translate into four runs."
Newman (33-6), which extended its winning streak to 12 games, will face Don Bosco (29-3) in a semifinal clash on Thursday at 6 p.m. Don Bosco - winners of 22 straight - knocked off Lenox, 7-2, on Monday.
Rapp (11-3) kept the potent Newman offense at bay for much of the afternoon. He allowed just seven hits over six innings of work, striking out two and walking three. But he was unable to silence Adams - a University of Northern Iowa baseball recruit.
Adams saw just five pitches all day and yet reached base three times. He lined a double down the left field line in the opening inning and, following a pop-out in the third, was hit by a Rapp offering in the fourth.
Adams put an exclamation on his team's victory in the sixth when he golfed a low and inside pitch well over the wall in left field. His shot traveled an estimated 380 feet.
"I was really loading up and looking for a fastball and I got one," Adams, who circled the bases for the 13th time this season, said. "Usually I look for something hanging right away and if I get my count then I look for a fastball."
Rapp could only tip his cap to the slugger.
"He's just a great hitter," Rapp said of Adams. "That was as low as I could get it. There was nothing I could do about it but keep pitching."
Newman erased a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, as all four of its runs came with two outs. A throwing error on a bunt by No. 9 hitter Ethan Vanous allowed Carter Kruckenberg - aboard with a single - to come to the plate for a 1-0 Knights' lead.
Thomas Weber extended the inning with a double to right field, Brad Dummett laced a RBI single to left and Jon Lewerke really put the Trojans in a hole with his two-run single to left, which gave Newman a 4-0 cushion.
"In that (fourth) inning, we just couldn't get anything to go our way," Rapp said. "It's a little disappointing because that one inning killed us, but at the same time I'm really proud of the guys for what we were able to do this year."
Northeast Hamilton plated its only run in the fifth inning when Kyle Klaver trotted home from third on a balk by Newman starting pitcher Brad Dummett. Klaver drew a one-out walk, moved to second on Marcus Mechaelsen's infield single and then raced to third on a throwing error by the Knights.
But Dummett had his way with the Trojans throughout his five innings of service, as he gave up just two hits and fanned nine. He struck out the side in the second and added a pair of Ks in the third and fourth innings.
"The scouting report we got on (Dummett) said he wasn't overpowering, but I thought he overpowered us pretty well," Kelley said. "He had it humming pretty good and he was really spotting his fastball well on the outside corner. We didn't adjust to him as well as we should have, but he was making some really tough pitches."
Northeast Hamilton finished with four hits in the contest. Zac Seaman lined a single to center in the first, Jordan Anderson added a bloop single in the sixth and Rapp hit a screamer off the arm of Newman relief pitcher Ben Braun for a base hit in the sixth.
Monday marked the end of the line for five Northeast Hamilton seniors - Rapp, Anderson, Darren Holtkamp, Lucas Mechaelsen and David Greenfield. They were the driving forces behind the Trojans' runner-up finish in the Iowa Star Conference behind Don Bosco and the end of a 17-year absence from the state tournament.
"It was a great year and a great season," Kelley said. "A lot of people thought we were going to come down here and get 10-runned, but we gave the No. 1 seed a run for its money. That's really all you can ask for."
