Sixth-ranked North Linn too much for L-S baseball in substate final

Jul. 13—SOLON — Lynnville-Sully's baseball team went from 18-11 last year to 24-3 this summer.

The Hawks went undefeated in conference play and claimed their first district championship in more than a decade.

The next step is to go from good to great and they got a front-row seat to what a state-tournament squad looks like on Tuesday night.

Class 1A No. 6 North Linn clinched its sixth state tournament berth in eight seasons following a 13-3, six-inning victory over Lynnville-Sully at the Solon Recreation and Nature Area.

"We talked to the kids about how there are good teams and there are great teams and the line between that is very thin," L-S baseball coach Scott Alberts said. "We made a big leap last year. When you go from good to great, it's a finer line. All of those little details make the game different at the next level."

The Hawks scored first and led the Lynx 2-1 after one inning, but North Linn plated six in the second, two in the third and finished things early with a three-run sixth.

The three runs scored by the Hawks were the first runs North Linn has given up in the postseason. But it wasn't nearly enough to advance to next week's state tournament in Carroll.

North Linn (31-2) improved its record to 207-24 since 2015.

"We knew what we were getting into with this team. And we know about the tradition," Alberts said. "Those kids expected to win this game. I think our kids did also, but it was one the first days when we really got pressed it felt like our kids maybe showed some chinks in the armor.

"And understandably so. Look at the tradition over there. I think our kids climbed mountains this year with the efforts they put into this program. I'm excited to see how much they can eventually accomplish and how far they can go."

L-S scored twice off North Linn freshman Mason Bechen in the first. Corder Noun Harder led off the game with a walk and then stole second. He went to third on Lannon Montgomery's single and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

After back-to-back strikeouts by Bechen, Caleb Rea walked. Owen Norrish then made it 2-0 with a two-out, two-strike RBI single.

Thats all the Hawks would muster though until the sixth.

Bechen (7-0) faced the minimum in the next four innings and allowed two earned runs and three hits in his five innings. He struck out five and walked two.

The Hawks finished with just five hits and committed five errors.

"In the first inning, (Bechen) struggled with the zone and threw way more pitches than he anticipated," Alberts said. "He usually sits around 15 pitches an inning. He pushed his pitch count pretty good. When he came back out after the first, he was pumping fastballs and we should have been jumping on the early fastballs better.

"He put us down in the count and then controlled us from there. I think he started to push the pace, and we just didn't respond offensively like we should have."

Before the sixth, the Hawks (24-3) had just two base runners. Conner Maston walked with two outs in the third but was picked off at first for the final out.

In the fifth, Carson Maston singled but his courtesy runner, C.J. Nikkel, was thrown out trying to steal second base.

Gunner Vanourney came on for the Lynx in the sixth and allowed the other run and two hits.

Noun Harder got a lead-off single and then went to third on a fielding error in the outfield. Bryce Richards then delivered a one-out RBI single. Norrish also walked between two strikeouts.

Noun Harder finished with one hit, one walk, two runs and one steal and Norrish added one hit, one RBI and one walk in his final prep game.

Montgomery singled and scored a run, Richards singled and had an RBI and Conner Maston and Rea both walked once. Carson Maston also singled.

"We felt like we'd score more than two runs against this team after the first inning," Alberts said. "They really buckled down. They put pressure on us, and we struggled to get runs across the plate."

The Hawks used three pitchers to get through 5 2/3 innings.

Lucas Sieck (9-1) started on the mound and took the loss after allowing eight runs — three earned — and five hits in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out one, walked three and hit two batters.

Carson Maston tossed three innings of relief and surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and struck out three, walked three and hit two batters.

Montgomery was on the mound when the game ended in the sixth. He faced two batters, got one out and allowed one hit.

"The plan was for (Sieck) to give us three or four innings and then have Carson finish it out," Alberts said. "We put Carson in earlier than we wanted to and you could see him struggling a bit there at the end. Our goal was to stay with two pitchers tonight if we could."

Corbin Woods had four hits, one run and four RBIs to lead the Lynx at the plate, while Bechen had two hits, one run, three RBIs and one walk.

Austin Hillmer finished with three hits, three runs, three steals and one walk. He has 68 steals this season and set a new state of Iowa record for all-time steals in a career with 235.

Notes: The loss snapped Lynnville-Sully's 10-game win streak. The victory extended North Linn's win steak to 13 games. ... North Linn came into the game batting .375 as a team and averaging 11.4 runs and 6.7 steals per game. The team's on-base percentage was .496. ... Noun Harder ended his sophomore season with a team-best .514 batting average and .667 on-base percentage. He also had a team-high 44 runs, three triples and 42 steals. ... Maston, a junior, batted .494 and had an OBP of .580 and led the Hawks with six home runs and 44 RBIs.