Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Chip away. No bad body language.

Those were the directives from Regina coach Mark Roering after his team was on the wrong end of a 9-0 first inning score.

Any Regal response would require clutch relief pitching and a bevy of timely hits.

Regina got both, and a memorable comeback was punctuated with a conference crown.

“A small miracle, I suppose,” Roering said after the Class 2A ninth-ranked Regals rallied past Mid-Prairie, 11-10, in the second game of a River Valley Conference doubleheader Monday night at the newly-dedicated Michael Kron Field. “We were just going to keep playing. We just kept chipping and chipping and chipping and we started getting the pressure on them a little bit when it got tight and good things happened.”

Trailing 9-0 after a half an inning and 10-2 in the middle of the second frame, Regina scored three runs in the third and two in the fourth to get within 10-7.

With the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the sixth, sophomore Jack Gavin stepped to the plate.

“I knew a fastball was coming,” Gavin said. “So I was just ready to unload on that one when I saw it.”

Gavin drilled a single to the outfield that ended up clearing the bases when the ball was misplayed by the Mid-Prairie outfielder.

Suddenly, the game was tied at 10-10.

Four batters later, Gavin scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by senior Tate Lynch.

“We focused on chipping back, a couple of runs per inning,” Gavin said. “It worked out.”

Three Regina relief pitchers – eighth-grader Bennett Recker, freshman Gabe Schuessler and Lynch – combined to hold Mid-Prairie scoreless for the final five innings, which allowed the Regina offense to continue to trim the deficit.

“Our No. 2 (pitcher), he had a tough outing,” Roering said. “A bunch of guys picked him up. … What a great team effort. Yeah, for sure. And on a great night too, with the dedication of the field and winning the conference championship because of this. It was awesome.”

The night began with a ceremony to name the renovated Regina baseball field as “Michael Kron Field,” in remembrance of the 1994 Regina graduate and four-sport athlete who passed away suddenly in 2024 at the age of 48.

Following the field dedication, Regina opened the doubleheader with an 8-1 win, highlighted by a terrific pitching performance from sophomore Will Litton, who yielded seven hits and just one run in six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.

“Just really locked in and hitting my spots,” said Litton, who is now 4-0 on the mound this season. “Just relying on my stuff to help me out.”

At the plate, Litton added two doubles and drove in two runs in Game 1, then followed that game with four hits and three runs scored in the nightcap. Sophomore Trey Streb drove in two runs in each game.

The River Valley Conference championship is the first for Regina (21-4, 14-2 RVC) since 2022. The Regals will visit Mid-Prairie (14-12, 10-7) Tuesday night and host West Liberty Wednesday before beginning the postseason with a 2A district semifinal July 8.

“It’s great,” Gavin said. “We haven’t had a conference champ in a while. It is good to see us play some good baseball, especially today against a good team. It gives a lot of confidence to the team.”

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