Hawks get their Remsen revenge, win 1A state baseball title

CARROLL — Scott and Stacey Alberts have been coaching Lynnville-Sully teams in state tournaments for nearly a decades worth of seasons.

The husband and wife duo couldn’t quite get over the hump on the softball diamond. But found their elusive state championship on the baseball field on Friday.

And the Class 1A No. 5 Lynnville-Sully baseball team got some sweet redemption against fourth-ranked Remsen St. Mary’s in the 1A state championship game at Merchants Park.

The Hawks were shutout, 1-0, against RSM in last year’s final but scored twice in the first inning in the rematch and never looked back during a 7-1 triumph.

“It felt surreal,” Lynnville-Sully head baseball coach Scott Alberts said. “It all came together and it was just perfect. The kids executed as perfectly as you can in an imperfect game.”

Lynnville-Sully never trailed and was in control of a close game through six before plating four in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

It was the Hawks’ first state championship since 1988. And the Alberts clan grabbed their first state title together after coaching alongside one another for eight state tournaments.

“It’s been a big part of our lives,” Scott Alberts said. “Our family has spent so much time on fields and to see the ultimate goal happen, it’s incredible.”

The Hawks out-hit RSM 10-5, and the opposing Hawks had the lone two errors in the game.

But the pitching remained the biggest story. Lucas Sieck got the start for L-S and improved to 12-1 on the season.

Sieck pitched into the seventh inning and allowed one earned run on five hits, three walks and two hit batters in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out eight.

“The fastball was really working today,” Sieck said. “They weren’t really able to time it up or make good contact on it. But the most important factor was the defense behind me making play after play.”

Jack Bowlin was called upon to get the final two outs and did not allow a base runner.

“Lucas pitched another great game,” said Corder Noun Harder, who calls the pitches in games. “We kept batters off balance throughout the whole game. Sieck’s whole arsenal was working, and Jack coming in and throwing strikes was huge. He knew we would need him eventually in this tournament.”

The single run RSM scored was the first allowed by L-S in the past six games. The Hawks went 38 straight innings without allowing a run.

Lynnville-Sully (29-3) got out to a quick start against RSM ace pitcher Collin Homan.

Noun Harder began the game with a single. He went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on C.J. Nikkel’s bunt single.

Nikkel wound up on second after RSM’s first error of the game. Noun Harder scored on Carson Maston’s RBI fielder’s choice and Nikkel was plated on Lannon Montgomery’s RBI single.

“We have wanted another shot at Remsen since last year,” Noun Harder said. “We knew they were a tough team to put runs on so getting an early lead and extending it throughout the game was huge for momentum.”

Remsen St. Mary’s (25-5) got one back in the third. Homan and Hunter Pick tallied back-to-back doubles to make it 2-1.

In the fifth, Terran Gosselink doubled, went to third on Davis Utech’s sacrifice bunt and then scored on Blake Van Wyk’s RBI fielder’s choice.

The three runs would have been enough to win the game, but L-S added on for good measure in the seventh.

Gosselink again started things off with a single and then moved to second on Van Wyk’s single.

Noun Harder, the best player in all of 1A, came through again. This time, his RBI single made it 4-1. Van Wyk ended up at third after another RSM error and Noun Harder advanced to second later on a wild pitch.

Both runners came around to score on Maston’s two-out, two-run double. Conner Deal, Maston’s pinch runner, scored on Montgomery’s RBI triple.

“The seventh was an amazing inning from our offense,” Maston said. “We had good at-bats, put the ball in gaps and moved runners well. We were very excited but not in celebration mode yet because we knew we still had to go on defense and shut the game down there.”

The Hawks went down in order in the second, third and fourth innings. Matthew Mintle had the team’s other hit on a pinch-hit at-bat in the sixth.

“We kind of got in a trance in the middle of the game and it felt like everything was just kind of at a standstill,” Utech said. “But after we put those runs on the board in the seventh, we were back in business. As soon as the final out in the top of the seventh was made, we were full throttle defense. Everything you have for three outs. That was our mentality.”

Sieck pitched out of trouble all day. RSM stranded eight runners on base in all, including two in the second and three in the seventh.

Coach Alberts went to Bowlin with one out in the seventh after RSM loaded the bases on a single and two walks.

The L-S defense once again came to play. On top of committing no errors, Jaiden Richards and Van Wyk turned a 4-6-3 double play after the first two RSM batters reached in the fifth.

Gosselink also made the final out of the game with a diving catch in right field. It was his third game-ending catch of the postseason.

“From the clutch double play when I got into some trouble, to Carson’s great over-the-shoulder catch, to Terran’s diving catch to end the game, our defense has been such a big reason we have won all season, and it really showed today,” Sieck said.

Noun Harder finished with two hits, two runs and one RBI, Montgomery tallied two hits, one triple and two RBIs and Gosselink had two hits, one double and two runs.

“It’s an amazing feeling knowing we have that title,” Gosselink said. “We started the game off great and really set the tone in the first inning. The seventh was the dagger. It took all of the energy out of their crowd.”

Maston double and had three RBIs, Van Wyk finished with one hit, one run and one RBI, Nikkel added one hit and one run, Mintle tallied one hit and Deal scored one run. The Hawks only struck out four times at the plate.

“Being state champions is the best feeling in the world,” Montgomery said. “This team deserves every bit of it. The team worked for everything throughout the whole year. I couldn’t be any more proud of this team.”

Noun Harder ended the season with team highs in runs (45), hits (48), total bases (90), triples (5), homers (8), walks (24) and stolen bases (29).

Montgomery finished with a team-most 37 RBIs, Maston had 32 RBIs and Nikkel scored 40 runs.

Homan went the distance on the mound for RSM but took the loss after surrendering six earned runs on 10 hits. He struck out four and used 105 pitches.

“State champions has a great ring to it,” Van Wyk said. “We were doubted coming into the season after we lost a lot from last year’s team. But we proved them all wrong and showed them who the real champs are. We had Remsen’s name on the white board all season saying they are going down and they definitely did.”

Notes : L-S ended the season with 11 straight wins. It did not lose to a 1A school this summer. … Sieck finished with 102 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings. He was named tournament MVP by the Iowa High School Sports Network. “Eight strikeouts in a title game against the defending state champions is more than we could have asked for,” Coach Alberts said. “We had a putout at every position on the field, too. This was a total team effort.” … L-S assistant baseball coach Stacey Alberts guided the Hawk softball team to seven state tournaments and Scott Alberts was one of her assistants for six of those. The highest finish for that duo in softball was third. “We’ve coached a lot of great teams in the past that we thought had the chance to win it,” Scott Alberts said. “To finally do it feels awesome. It was the perfect combination of great talent and a little bit of luck and good fortune.” … Sieck ran out of pitches in the seventh inning, but Coach Alberts said they planned to use Bowlin at some point in the game. “What a monster spot to be in for Jack,” Alberts said. “The first batter he faced was their No. 2 hitter who was batting .450. And the bases were loaded.”