Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Not everyone gets a second chance in sports.

A year ago, Liberty High’s Jack Funke was the final out of a 3-2 loss in the first round of substate play with the potential tying and winning runs on base.

Nearly a year to the day on the same field, the Lightning senior stared down another two-out, 3-2 deficit with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of another Class 4A first round substate game.

The result this time?

Iowa City Liberty lives to play another day.

“I told him then and I will tell him again, that is the guy that I want up in that spot,” Liberty High coach Tom Cronk said after Funke’s bases-clearing double propelled the Lightning to a 5-3 win over Clinton Saturday at Liberty High School. “He has got the biggest heart, the most character of any of our guys and just an awesome kid that you know is going to come through because he is willing to work and he is willing to do those things. Fortunately, he got a barrel on that one. It worked out for us.”

Funke’s clutch liner found the gap between the Clinton center and right fielders, and all three baserunners – Braden O’Connor, Luke Mayer and Luke Meyers – scampered home and into the jubilant Liberty dugout.

“I have got to appreciate all the little things my teammates do,” Funke. “I got two hit by pitches (Noah Kirk and Meyers) and then we got a bunt down (Mason Gardner) and that is just really big to even give us that RBI situation. I went up there hunting fastball because my teammates told me he had a good curve, so I was hunting fastball, saw a first-pitch fastball and just took the opportunity and swung it.”

Before the four-run sixth inning against the Clinton bullpen, Liberty High was having difficulty getting to Clinton starting pitcher Jai Jensen.

After Funke opened the game with a single that scored Meyers in the bottom of the first inning, the Lightning managed just two hits over the next four innings.

“Jai came out and threw great,” Cronk said. “We were able to scratch a couple out and more importantly, we were able to get his pitch count up.”

It appeared as if Liberty High might break through in the bottom of the third inning by loading the bases with no outs, but Jensen struck out the next two batters and induced a flyout from the third to end the scoring chance.

“The guys stuck to it,” Funke said. “The energy, I don’t think, ever went lackluster. I felt like we had a chance the whole way through and our guys, all of our guys, believed. We just did the little things right, applied pressure and we got good things out of it.”

Jensen allowed just three hits and one run with two walks and nine strikeouts in five innings pitched. He did hit three batters.

Once he was pulled to begin the sixth inning, Liberty High made its crucial charge.

“One of the things we have talked about is getting to the bullpen,” Cronk said. “Getting to the bullpen. We want to be in the bullpen. Jai threw great today.”

While the Liberty High offense worked on tiring Jensen, its pitching staff made sure the Clinton offense could do no further damage.

Liberty High starter Boyd Skelley scattered seven hits and allowed three runs with a walk and three strikeouts, then held the River Kings scoreless in his fourth and final inning of work.

After the Clinton leadoff hitter reached base on an error to begin the fifth, Kelley gave way to senior Jack Turgasen, who proceeded to catch the aforementioned Clinton baserunner in a rundown between second and third base, then strike out five of the next six batters.

“He’s got dynamic stuff,” Cronk said of Turgasen. “He is not overpowering. He is not going to throw 87 (miles per hour), but his breaking ball is sharp and when he is in the zone, he is really hard to hit. He is just a tough, hard-nosed baseball kid.”

Once Liberty claimed its 5-3 lead, Turgasen returned to the mound to get the final three outs. Things got a little dicey with three walks wrapped around a couple of strikeouts, but Turgasen recorded the final out of the game with a flyout to right field and the bases still loaded.

“Just keeping my composure,” said Turgasen, who struck out seven in three scoreless innings of relief. “Staying calm. All my pitches to all the batters that got on base were three (balls), two (strikes). All right there. Debatable calls, but they could go either way. And then just having a great defense behind me. When the ball gets hit in play, we get the job done.”

Liberty High (19-19) gets another chance to ‘get the job done’ on Monday in a substate semifinal at eighth-ranked Cedar Falls (26-12).

The Tigers opened the season May 16 with a doubleheader sweep at Liberty, but the Lightning bring plenty of success against similarly-ranked teams into this matchup.

“For us, it’s about us and playing well,” Cronk said. “When we throw strikes and limit the errors, we have been really, really good this year. We have played with anybody in the state. We swept City High. We have beaten Prairie. We have beaten Wahlert. We have beat some really, really good teams, and then we have had some days when we haven’t and we have kicked the ball around. We have got our share of what you would call ‘bad losses.’ But when we put it together and we play error-free and throw a lot of strikes, we think we can compete with anybody in the state. That is what we are going to have to do again on Monday.”

A win at Cedar Falls would equal the furthest postseason finish in the short history of the Liberty program with a third trip to a substate final.

Clinton ends its season at 17-13.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.