Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SIOUX CITY – City High head coach Brian Mitchell knew the gameplan his team needed to follow to win the Class 4A state baseball title.

To rattle off three wins in a span of four days in Sioux City the Little Hawks would need strong pitching, clean defense and some timely hits.

There is almost always one other determining factor for every team that hoists a state tournament trophy in July.

Someone steps up big.

City High certainly got the traditional stellar pitching that has become the trademark of the program this week on its way to its first ever state title.

But it was the hitting of senior outfielder Drew Nye that stole the show for the Little Hawks in Sioux City.

“Drew Nye,” City High coach Brian Mitchell said. “Amazing, amazing. He was unreal.”

Nye entered the state tournament hitting .242 with 16 RBI.

There isn’t an official Most Valuable Player at the state tournament but if there was Nye would have left Lewis & Clark Park in Sioux City with the award.

Nye had at least one hit and drove in two runs in each game at the state tournament, capped by a two-out, two-run single in a three-run City High first inning on Friday in a 4-1 win over Bettendorf in the 4A title game.

“This is what you work for your whole life,” Nye said. “It’s a great way to go out in your last game of high school.”

Nye was the offensive catalyst for the City High offense all week.

His only home run of the season, a two-run shot in the second inning sparked a City High comeback in a 5-3 quarterfinal win over Waukee on Tuesday.

Nye added two hits in a 6-3 semifinal win over Cedar Rapids Prairie, including a two-run single during a five-run Little Hawk third inning.

City High scored 15 runs in three wins at the state tournament, Nye drove in six and scored another.

“What he did was unbelievable, unbelievable,” Mitchell said. “He was the difference maker in the whole tournament.”

Nye came up perhaps the biggest in his final prep game.

His two-out two-run single in the first inning gave City High a 3-0 lead it would never give up as the Little Hawks earned their first ever state baseball title.

It was the perfect finish for Nye who went 4-for-9 with a home run at the state tournament.

“There is nothing I know I can’t do on the field,” Nye said. “I feel like I am the best player on the field at all time.”

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