Every time Clear Creek Amana pitcher Reece Cochran takes the mound, it gives the Clippers the confidence needed to compete against the best teams in the state.
Known for his calm demeanor, Cochran plays a fearless game, and his play showed that during a 6-2 win over Solon in the Class 3A substate semifinals on Tuesday.
“It’s a big win, they took us out last year in substate so this was big for us; they’re our rivals obviously,” Cochran said. "We just wanted to beat them this year and we knew we could so it feels good."
The right-handed pitcher was ready for a battle, especially against a tough Solon team that was ranked seventh in Class 3A heading into Tuesday.
Solon had served as CCA’s kryptonite over their last three meetings, which included a Spartan win over the Clippers in the substate quarterfinals last season and two-game regular season sweep this season.
The roles were reversed on Tuesday.
CCA junior Robert Meade set the tone with a two-run homer that cleared the right field wall to give CCA an early 2-0 lead at the top of the first inning. It was his third homer on the season.
After Cochran struck out the side, the bottom of CCA’s lineup — Wyatt Key, Luke Young and Luke Higdon — all found success at the plate. With the bases loaded, Ty Fuller delivered a two-RBI single to right to give CCA a 4-0 lead in the top of the second.
"It was overwhelming; moments like those, they feel amazing especially in a playoff setting,” Fuller said. “We had plenty of those in this game, but hits like that really shifted the momentum in our favor.”
Facing a 6-0 hole, Solon countered with a wild pitch for a run to cut CCA’s advantage to five, but Cochran and the Clipper defense played spoiler. A strikeout followed by an infield out halted Solon’s momentum heading into the fourth inning.
After five straight hitless innings, Cochran’s game was broken by two left-field shots by Maddox Kelley and Garret Strebral of Solon, but CCA kept its foot on the gas on the defensive end, stranding runners on base.
Solon slugger Brett White managed to hit an RBI single to center field to make it a 6-2 game at the bottom of the seventh inning but freshman pitcher Luke Young put on the finishing touches in the final stretch.
Cochran improved his pitching record to 3-3 on the season.
“If he can keep it in the zone, we got a chance at any point against anybody in the entire state,” said CCA head coach Bryan McCray. “He’s at his best when nobody thinks he’s going to do the job, and he did a heck of a job today.”
For Solon, it was a season filled with productivity. White finished his senior season with 13 homers — the second most in the state and the highest in his five seasons with the Spartans. Pitcher Vince Steinbrech finished with a 8-0 record while Nolan Seagren and Maddox Kelley each played huge roles for Solon this season.
The Spartans finished with a 28-12 record.
“Really proud of our guys for our season. Won 28 games: 16-6 in a tough WaMaC East and WaMaC overall. We had a really good senior class,” said Solon head coach Keith McSweeney. “They competed all year; they’re very coachable and loved being their coach.”
CCA baseball (23-15) last reached the state tournament in 2020. They hope to clinch their ticket to state on Wednesday.
“We don’t really care who we play, we know we can beat anybody so we’re just all excited to play and get a chance to go to state,” Cochran said.
Marc Ray is the high school sports reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He can be reached at MARay@gannett.com, and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.
Most Popular
Comments / 0