Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – An uncharacteristically wobbly start eventually gave way to tournament-tested experience.

Three first-inning errors put Class 4A No. 10 City High in an early 2-0 hole against Burlington but another standout pitching performance from sophomore Alex Knudtson made sure they would not cost the Little Hawks their season.

“Coaches, all of them, just told me to take a break, just take deep breaths,” Knudtson said after City High overcame six total errors with seven unanswered runs and eliminated Burlington, 7-2, in a prep baseball substate semifinal game Monday night at Mercer Park. “I knew my defense wouldn’t make errors all night. They were going to start making plays, so that helps. We don’t make that many errors in a game. It just doesn’t really happen. I knew they would have my back eventually, so I just kept on throwing strikes and they did.”

The victory continued a surprise season for Knudtson, who yielded four hits, walked three and struck out three in five innings of work.

Knudtson has won five of his six starts this season and now has an earned run average of 1.38 with 17 walks and 32 strikeouts.

“We just thought he would be a role player,” City High Coach Brian Mitchell said. “We didn’t really know. We thought he would pitch a little bit for us. We just didn’t know. Then all of a sudden, about halfway through the year or a little before that, it was, ‘He deserves a shot, He is really good’.”

On June 11, Knudtson opened everyone’s eyes when he tossed a one-hit shutout at currently seventh-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie in his first varsity start on the mound.

A little over a month later, the sophomore got the nod to take the mound and try to pitch the Little Hawks into a substate final.

“The whole preseason and beginning of the season, they were saying I would probably be a reliever and come out of the pen,” Knudtson said. “Stuff like that. I got my first start against Prairie and I did well there, so they kept on giving me starts. I just tried to do my best every time and, well, we did it.”

The City High offense came alive in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Still trailing, 2-0, a one-out double by junior Gavin Koch off Burlington starting pitcher Jacob Zahner (6-2) scored Gable Mitchell and Cade Obermueller to tie the game.

“I think we swung at two fastballs pretty early in the count,” Koch said. “So, he had only thrown like four pitches, so I knew I had to take one. He threw me a strike and then threw me another strike and I capitalized.”

City High (29-13) took the lead for good in the next frame when junior Joey Bouska scored all the way from first on a Mitchell single and Burlington error at third base.

“That’s huge,” said Bouska, who finished the game with two runs scored. “Our crowd is awesome. Getting them involved….That run and they’re going crazy. Everybody is fired up. Game changer.”

Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning, Knudtson allowed a leadoff single and was replaced on the mound by Koch, who promptly extinguished any thought of a rally in that frame by retiring the next three Burlington batters in succession.

“I was excited to go,” Koch said. “I knew I was going to relieve, so I was excited to go since we started. As soon as I took the bump, I stuck to what I always do. Throw strikes, attack with pressure and I did it.”

The Little Hawks broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Junior John Klosterman led off with a double, senior Cedric Dunnwald brought him home with a single, a Bouska double brought two more in and junior Carter Seaton capped off the scoring with a double that scored Bouska.

“People stepping up with runners on,” Bouska said. “Finding a way to put the ball in play and make them make a play.”

The victory avenged an 11-4 loss on June 22 at Burlington (27-7), which ended a stretch in which the Little Hawks had won 15 of 16 games.

City High will travel to Ottumwa (29-9) for a substate final on Wednesday and will attempt to earn a berth in the state tournament for the second year in a row.

The Ottumwa baseball team filled a section of the bleachers at Mercer Park surveying its next opponent.

“They sure were,” Bouska said. “Just play our game of ball. Our brand of ball. That is all it is going to take.”

Burlington                 200  000  0  –  2    5    4

City  High                    000  214  x  –  7   10   6

W – Alex Knudtson                            L – Jacob Zahner

2B – ICH: John Klosterman, Carter Seaton

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