Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Regina had a lot to deal with in its first two innings of the postseason.

The Regals had to endure a postponement, an early deficit and an hour-long weather delay all before they could play two innings on Wednesday.

None of it could stop Class 2A ninth-ranked Regina from moving on.

Regina scored four runs in the second inning and six in the third to overcome an early 3-1 deficit on its way to a 12-3 win over Van Buren (9-19) in a Class 2A District 10 semifinal pushed back a day by rain at Regina.

“A lot of stuff could have gone wrong today so it’s a credit to the guys,” Regina coach Jeff Pacha said. “We had some adversity and we did a good job staying in it.”

Regina (25-7) scored six runs in the third inning after hour-long rain delay to run its winning streak to six games.

The win avenged a 6-2 loss to the Warriors in the substate final last sason and sent Regina to the District 10 title game where it will host Mid-Prairie (16-14) on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“It’s fun, we all play because we like the game so one extra day of baseball I don’t think anyone really cares,” Regina junior Nick Brandt said of the postponement and weather delays. “They beat us last year to end our season so I think we were kind of amped up to play even if we had to wait a little.”

A Tuesday evening thunderstorm drenched the Regina field causing the semifinal originally set for Tuesday to be postponed a day.

Regina players spent much of the morning and afternoon clearing water from the field to get it playable for the evening.

When game time rolled around 24 hours after originally scheduled Regina found itself on the wrong end of a 3-1 score courtesy of a second-inning, three-run double by Jacob Plecker.

“We worked on the field a lot and the day kind of started to drag on and we came out a little slow,” Brandt said. “After that rain delay we got amped up and did what we need to do.”

Trailing 3-1 Mitch Gahan led off the Regina second with a single and scored on a RBI groundout by Brandt.

Regina then scored three two-out runs, taking a 5-3 lead on a Trent Hoogerwerf double that stayed just inside the third base line.

“They took a two-run lead and we came back and didn’t blink an eye,” Pacha said. “We get a leadoff hit and score a couple of runs and all the credit in the world goes to these guys because it’s a long day and that’s hard to do.”

As soon as Hoogerwerf arrived at second base on his double the teams were pulled off the field for what turned out to be a 70-minute weather delay.

When play resumed Regina picked up where it left off.

Regina exploded for six runs in the third inning to take a 11-3 lead.

“We were talking about that we thought it was a big momentum stopper when the delay came but we came out and put up more runs,” Regina junior Evan Suchomel said. “It was a different type of game but we got the job done.”

Three straight singles by seven, eight and nine hitters Hunter Lieberman, Brandt and Suchomel loaded the bases in the third inning.

After Jayden Kies was hit by a pitch to score a run Ryan Schott followed with a two-run single to right field.

“With them scoring three on that double that definitely got us going,” Suchomel said. “They came at us and we had to respond.”

Suchomel went 3-for-4 from the nine spot in the order as the final four hitters combined for seven of the 11 Regina hits and scored eight runs.

Brandt worked 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Ryne Schooley who allowed three runs in two innings and didn’t return after the delay.

Alex Meister and Ryan Schott combined with Brandt to allow just three hits while striking out nine over the final five innings.

Eight different players had a hit and six different Regals scored a run on Wednesday.

Suchomel led the way with three hits and two runs scored and Mitch Gahan had a pair of hits including a triple and scored two runs.

Jayden Kies scored three times and Schott and Lieberman each drove in two runs.

“I think tonight was a good view how complete of a team we have,” Pacha said. “Schooley didn’t have his best stuff tonight, he competed for us but after the rain delay we didn’t feel comfortable bringing him back and we brought in Brandt and he did a great job. It showed how deep we were hitting, pitching, defense one through nine tonight did a good job.”

Regina will face Mid-Prairie for a third time this season after the Golden Hawks advanced with a 6-2 win over West Burlington Wednesday in the completion of a semifinal postponed from Tuesday.

The Regals swept Mid-Prairie in a River Valley Conference doubleheader on June 12 winning 10-4 and 5-0.

“It feels good tonight now we have to get back to work tomorrow,” Brandt said. “Mid-Prairie is a good team we played them twice and it was two good games so we have to be ready.”

Van Buren     030  000  0  –  3     2   3

Regina            146  100  x  –  12  11  1

W – Ryne Schooley                L – Mason McDonough

2B – ICR: Trent Hoogerwerf. VB: Jacob Plecker

3B – ICR: Mitch Gahan.