Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Ryne Schooley wasn’t a member of the last Regina team to reach the state tournament in 2014 and the junior wasn’t even born the last time Regina won a game at state.

Neither were any of his Regina teammates.

On Monday Schooley and the rest of the Regals made sure there first trip to the state tournament wouldn’t be a short one.

Schooley spun a four-hit shutout as Regina downed second-ranked Treynor 5-0 in the Class 2A quarterfinals at Principal Park in Des Moines for its first state win since 1994.

“We knew it had been a long time and we did what we wanted to do,” Schooley said. “We haven’t really talked about it much but that is really something special. It’s just getting over the hump.”

Mitch Gahan drove in three runs and Nick Brandt had an RBI single as No. 9 Regina (28-7) snapped a three-game state tournament losing streak with its ninth straight win.

Regina will face No. 7 Dyersville Beckman (30-11) in the 2A semifinals on Thursday. Beckman defeated Denver 7-1 in the quarterfinals on Monday.

“It’s pretty crazy we hadn’t won a game here since the 90s,” Gahan said. “It just feels good to be a part of this one.”

The past two state tournament trips for Regina were abbreviated stops.

Regina fell to Lansing Kee 4-2 in 2000 and dropped its most recent state tournament game 2-1 to Van Meter in the 2014 quarterfinals.

No current Regal played on the 2014 state tournament team but that doesn’t mean they didn’t remember it. The current Regina juniors were eighth-graders that season.

“I knew the 2014 team was really good but didn’t win at state and I didn’t know what the year was when they last won but I knew it was a long time,” Brandt said. “It feels good to be a part of it.”

Making their first state tournament appearance, Regina got an early lead and Schooley made it stand up.

Regina scored twice in the second inning, the second run coming when Brandt bounced a ground ball up the middle and past a drawn in Treynor infield.

“I choked up on the bat, widened out and put it in play,” Brandt said. “It got through a hole luckily.”

The Brandt single scored Hunter Liebermann and gave Schooley an early cushion 2-0 and some much-needed breathing room.

“Obviously there are some pre-game jitters,” Schooley said. “Once I got the lead I was able to just pitch to contact and trust my defense that they would get it done.”

Schooley didn’t allow a hit until the fourth when Kendrick Umphreys lined a two-out single to snap a string of seven straight retired by the Regina ace.

The junior left-hander improved to 7-1 on the season with his third win of the postseason while dropping his season ERA to 2.24.

“The fastball was working early and I just had to get the curve locked in,” Schooley said. “Once that started working I was cruising.”

Schooley didn’t give up more than one hit in a single inning on Monday and didn’t allow a runner past second base.

He walked three and struck out seven against a Treynor squad that entered leading Class 2A with a .363 batting average and averaging 9.4 runs per game.

Treynor finished 32-5 after being shutout for the first time all season.

“That is a heck of a ball team,” Pacha said. “They have two solid pitchers, they swing the bat really well, their offensive statistics don’t lie. That’s a really good team and Ryne was able to do a good job of keeping them off balance and shutting the door when we needed it.”

Regina added a run in the third inning when Blake Berns tripled with one out and scored on a Gahan RBI single to right.

Gahan then put the finishing touches on the win with a two-run single in the fifth that scored Trent Hoogerwerf and Schooley who led off the inning with back-to-back singles.

“We did a good job of coming through with some timely hitting and not trying to do too much,” Pacha said. “It’s a big park and there aren’t a lot of home runs that go out here so the approach is big at the plate. Understanding to stay short and try to drive the ball through on the right side or up the middle and our guys did a really nice job of that today.

Class 2A Quarterfinal

Treynor          000  000  0  –  0  4  2

Regina            021  020  x  –  5  9  1

W – Ryne Schooley                L – Kendrick Umphreys

3B – ICR: Blake Berns