Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Sometimes the statistics don’t lie.

The Solon baseball team knew that in order to qualify for the state tournament for the first time since 2018, it would have to do what no other team has done this season.

Get the best of Cedar Rapids Xavier junior pitcher Alex Neal.

“He has good movement on his velo,” Solon Coach Keith McSweeney said after the seventh-ranked Spartans were stymied by the fourth-ranked Saints, 6-3, in a Class 3A substate final Wednesday night at the Solon Recreation and Nature Area. “He will go up and down with his fastball and he has a good two-seam (fastball). He threw a change(up) tonight, which we did not see as much on film.”

Neal (8-0) entered the game with an unbeaten record, an earned run average of 1.34 and a whopping 73 strikeouts against just five walks.

Solon (29-12) did get to Neal in the first inning via singles from leadoff batter Blake Timmons and a walk to slugging freshman Brett White.

A single from senior Brady Jeworrek scored Timmons, but it was the only run the Spartans could push across until the final inning.

“We got some guys on base and he just made a ton of good pitches with guys on base,” Timmons said. “He throws hard, for one. But he also has some movement on his fastball and then he has a great curveball, too, that is pretty good.”

On offense, Xavier (26-12) took advantage of seven walks, two hit batsmen, three wild pitches and three Solon errors to post a pair of runs in the first, second and fourth innings.

Xavier sophomore Brody Hoffman and Neal each drove in a run with a single as the Saints maintained a 6-1 lead for much of the contest.

“They are going to take advantage, that is kind of their M-O,” McSweeney said. “We were flirting with it a little bit and they capitalized.”

Timmons was the third pitcher of the game for Solon and he gave his team a chance at a comeback by holding the Saints scoreless over the final three innings.

“Blake came to play tonight,” McSweeney said. “Sophomore, got a great future in the game. He really bowed his neck for us on the mound. Started missing barrels, getting big outs. Yeah, he quieted their bats.”

Timmons was also a force at the plate as he reached base in all four at-bats and finished with three singles, a walk and two runs scored.

His walk came with one out in the seventh inning, which provided White with the opportunity to cut a 6-1 deficit in half with his second home run of the season.

“I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Timmons said. “I was just trying to hit it where it was pitched. They were working me outside, so I went with it a couple of times and worked a walk, too.”

Xavier will open the state tournament July 28 at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City.

Timmons ends his season with a team-best 53 hits and 59 runs scored, while White led the Spartans with 56 RBIs.

Both will be counted on again heavily next season to lead a roster that graduates 14 seniors, including a host of regular contributors like Jeworrek, Cade Chapman, Ben Cusick, Carson Shive, Brayden Rickertson, Drew Turner, Jackson Ryan and pitchers Austin Schwake, Westen Stiegelmeyer, Will Noonan, Bo Janssen and Jacob Smith.

“They taught us how to lead,” Timmons said. “They taught us how to do it the right way and how this program is supposed to be. They taught us how to carry on the tradition. I am proud of them. They taught us all.”

CR Xavier                  220  200  0  –  6  5  0

Solon                          100  000  2  –  3  8  4

W – Alex Neal                        L – Drew Turner

2B – SOL: Brett White. CRX: Jack Lux

HR – SOL: Brett White

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