Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Solon continued to surge on Friday winning for the fourth time in what will be an eight-game week for the Spartans.

Aidan Doyle and Blake Timmons had strong outings on the mound and Nolan Seagren and Brett White each had multi-hit games and drove in two runs in an 8-1 win over rival Regina (12-15) in Iowa City.

Even with the Solon win Friday was all about Regina senior Jack Tierney.

In his final prep event before departing on Saturday to join the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado Tierney gave one final memorable performance.

“You just don’t find many guys like him,” Regina coach Steve Pacha said of Tierney. “He’s impacted this team and this school the way that he carries himself, they way he’s been a leader on and off the field, he’s on the student council. He is one of those kids that holds himself to such a high standard and he up keeps it.”

A multi-sport standout for the Regals, Tierney was a five-year varsity player for the Regals.

In his final appearance on Friday the senior right-hander tossed 6 1/3 solid innings, hugging teammates and coaches before walking off the field for the final time to a standing ovation with one out in the seventh inning.

“I’m so thankful for everything this game has given me,” Tierney said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play baseball since I was eight years old, and fortunate to play varsity for five years and this game has given me so much and made me such a better person.”

The abbreviated final season for Tierney has been his best.

Tierney hit a .405 and tied for the team lead with 20 RBI. On the mound he was the unquestioned leader for a young Regal pitching staff.

Tierney posted a 1.58 ERA and 2-1 record in 26 2/3 innings as a senior.

“He always finds a way to get through it,” Pacha said. “He never gets too high, he never gets too low. He’s our only senior pitcher and being able to have him as our staff anchor you have really seen guys feed off of him.”

Tierney didn’t get a win on Friday but as he always did he kept battling and kept Regina in the game.

Solon got two unearned runs in the first and added two more runs in the third with Seagren driving in runs in both innings.

Tierney threw the maximum 111 pitches in his final appearance, allowing six runs, four earned, on eight hits while striking out five and walking three in 6 1/3 innings.

He departed after getting Jackson Link to pop out to second for the first out in the seventh inning.

“I’m so grateful for my teammates,” Tierney said. “I was fortunate, I knew my season was going to be shorter going into it and I was fortunate to come out here and play ball with these guys every day. These guys are my family and I loved coming out here and playing every day.”

For Solon (19-13) the win was the fourth in six games this week and the third consecutive win for the Spartans.

Solon will finish the week in Des Moines with games against Gilbert and MOC-Floyd Valley on Saturday at Grandview College.

“We have guys that love baseball so they don’t see it as a long week they see it as a chance to play,” Solon coach Keith McSweeney said. “They love the game so it’s another time to play. They love to compete.”

Timmons allowed just one run on two hits in three innings on Friday and Doyle tossed four innings of one-hit relief to earn the win.

“Coach Shulista’s presence in our program with our pitching staff is very obvious we’ve been really good the last four weeks on the mound,” McSweeney said. “We struggled the first week and a half throwing strikes and competing but since then our kids were coachable and they started competing and tonight was a great outing.”

Timmons was 3-for-4 and scored two runs, Whit was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI and Seagren was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored for the Spartans.

Solon                          202  110  2  –  8  11  0

Regina                        001  000  0  –  1   3   3

W – Aidan Doyle                    L – Jack Tierney

2B – SOL: Brett White (2), Aiden Doyle, Nolan Seagren. ICR: Jack Clark

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