CARROLL — Lynnville-Sully did two things at an elite level to win the Class 1A championship at the Iowa high school state baseball tournament.
Pitching and defense.
Lucas Sieck threw 6 2/3 innings, and the seven guys behind him and his catcher behind the plate did their job to perfection during the Hawks' 7-1 victory over defending champion Remsen St. Mary's during the 1A title game Friday at Merchants Park.
"I was able to throw strikes and my defense made plays all day," Sieck said. "That was the biggest part of the game was my defense making plays. They've done it all season."
Sieck only allowed one run on five hits, and he had eight strikeouts with just three walks as the winning pitcher in the championship game. The only St. Mary's run came in the bottom of the third when Hunter Pick hit an RBI double.
That was the only run allowed all tournament by Lynnville-Sully. The Hawks blanked Sigourney, 2-0, in the semifinals after Sieck struck out 11 batters in five innings. They took down Akron-Westfield, 4-0, in the semifinals after Carson Maston struck out 12 in a complete-game shutout, only surrendering five hits.
During Friday's title game, the Lynnville-Sully got out of a jam in the top of the fifth thanks to its defense. St. Mary's put runners on first and second with no outs, but Lynnville-Sully's infield trio of second baseman Jaiden Richards, shortstop Blake Van Wyk and Maston at first base executed a 4-6-3 double play to perfection.
In the bottom of the seventh, St. Mary's loaded the bases with one out. Lynnville-Sully relief pitcher Jack Bowlin forced a fly to left for the second out. Then St. Mary's senior Collin Homan hit a fly ball to shallow right that looked like it would drop for a hit and score at least one run.
But Lynnville-Sully right fielder Terran Gosselink came in and made a diving catch to end the game, giving the Hawks their first state championship since 1988.
"That double play when we got into trouble, that was the play of the game right there," Sieck said. "That diving catch at the end — what a play. I can't thank these guys enough for what they've done all season. They've just been amazing behind our pitching staff all season."
Sieck admitted he knew the game was over before Gosselink's exciting catch. His team took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning. Then they extended it with four runs in the top of the frame to ice the game.
Corder Noun Harder hit an RBI single, Maston followed with a two-run double and Lannon Montgomery hit an RBI triple to center.
"Once we got that double from Carson Maston over the head (of the St. Mary's outfielder), that's when it all sunk in," Sieck said. "We were going to win it."
Lynnville Sully also scored twice in the first and once in the fifth. Maston drove in three runs, Montgomery knocked in two, Noun Harder was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and Gosselink went 2-for-3 with two runs to help Lynnville-Sully avenge last year's state semifinal loss to St. Mary's. The state champions finish the season with a 29-3 record.
St. Mary's went 25-5 and made its third-consecutive trip to the 1A title game.
"I think we've got some young kids coming up who are going to be hungry," said St. Mary's coach Dean Harpenau. "They don't want to be the first group not to make it. Obviously, we're going to try to get here (to state) for the 10th year in a row."
Collin Homan took the loss for St. Mary's after allowing six earned runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts and no walks in seven innings. Homan and Pick both doubled once at the plate, and Loucks, Brady Koenck and Keaton Harpenau each had a single for St. Mary's.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at@JoeRandleman