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Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – The biggest hits for Regina in its state tournament opener on Monday came from the number one and number nine spots in the batting order.

Third-ranked Regina got plenty of production from every spot in between while returning to the state semifinals for the second straight season.

Leadoff hitter Ryne Schooley drove in three runs, Jayden Kies had a go-ahead two-run single from the nine hole and all nine starters had a hit as Regina (28-7) rallied past Treynor 6-1 in a Class 2A state quarterfinal at Principal Park in Des Moines.

“We’ve got guys from one to nine that can hit and it’s really important to us because there is no dead spot in the order,” Schooley said. “You have a chance every inning to make something happen and that’s huge at the state tournament because you don’t want to waste innings here.”

Regina used 10 singles from nine different players to score six unanswered runs over the final three innings to erase an early 1-0 deficit.

The win was the 11th straight for Regina which used its second quarterfinal win over Treynor in as many years to reach the state semifinals in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.

A year after falling to eventually champion Dyersville Beckman in the 2A semifinals Regina will seek its first title game appearance since 1994 when it faces ninth-ranked Van Meter (30-8) in a 2A semifinal at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Van Meter rallied for a 4-3 quarterfinal win over No. 10 Alta-Aurelia on Monday.

“It feels good to get the first one out of the way, it feels great to be back in the semifinals, two games away from a state championship,” Schooley said. “This year we are going to have a little different approach to it since we’ve been there before.”

Mitch Gahan pitched seven strong innings and Regina played error free defense behind him while winning for the 14th time in the past 15 games.

Gahan had a Treynor squad that had scored 38 runs in its previous four games to one run on seven hits in a complete game win.

The senior right-hander struck out six and walked one while improving to 9-2 with his fifth consecutive win.

“Defense was a big key in this game, Jayden had a great catch and Ryan Schott made a great play at third,” Gahan said. “Towards the end of the game you get tired a little bit and you put the ball in the zone and hope your defense can make plays and when they do it’s a great feeling.”

Along with sharp defense and another strong outing from its ace Regina leaned on its offensive balance on Monday.

Schooley was the only Regina player with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 from his leadoff spot, but eight other Regals had a single in the 10-hit attack.

“I think that’s a lot of the difference in how we were able to continue to put pressure on them and eventually crack it open is because we really can go one through nine,” Regina coach Jeff Pacha said. “We’ve got guys all the way from leadoff to the nine hole and all it does is add pressure on their pitching and defense.”  

Treynor (19-14) took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Kyle Christensen led off the inning with a single and scored on a double to left center field by Justin Cox.

Regina answered immediately.

Blake Berns and Gahan led off the Regina fourth with back-to-back singles and following a sacrifice bunt Regina loaded the bases when Nick Brandt struck out but reached base on a dropped third strike.

Kies gave Regina the lead for good when he lined a 3-2 pitch from Treynor sophomore starter Drew Petersen between third and shortstop for a two-run single.

“The only think I remember is it was a full count and I just wanted to put the ball in play because I struck out my first at bat and I wanted to do better throughout the game,” Kies said. “I guess you could say that I did a lot better.”

Schooley followed with a ground ball single up the middle that pushed the lead to 3-1.

“I think that’s how baseball goes, one person gets a hit and it gets the energy up and everyone wants to get a hit,” Schooley said. “The bottom of the order did a great job of peppering some singles and then Jayden came up with a clutch hit and it was awesome to see him do that.”

That was more than enough for Gahan who allowed just three singles over the final three innings.

Gahan allowed a leadoff single in the fifth but erased the runner when got Brenden Dingus to pop up a bunt and doubled off courtesy runner Austin Kulesa at first.

Dean Bedell singled with two outs in the sixth but Schott ended the threat with an impressive backhanded stab of a Cox ground ball behind the bag at third and threw the Treynor shortstop out a first.

“We were just trying to play defense for our best pitcher Mitch,” Kies said. “He pitched a heck of a game we just have to play defense behind him and we did a good job today with that.”

Regina broke the game open with three runs in the sixth.

Nick Brandt and Hunter Liebermann started the inning with back-to-back singles and Schooley dropped a two-run single into center to push the lead to 5-1.

“One through nine and we even have a few guys on the bench we are comfortable with,” Pacha said. “We have all the confidence in all those guys. Having that many athletes if we can stick to our approach we should be o.k.

Treynor          000  100  0  –  1   7   3

Regina           000  303  x  –  6  10  0

W – Mitch Gahan       L – Drew Petersen

2B – TRE: Justin Cox

3B – TRE: Brenden Dingus