Iowa City High earns win over Waukee in Iowa high school state baseball tournament quarterfinals

CEDAR RAPIDS— After being pushed to Wednesday due to rain on Tuesday, the Class 4A quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 Iowa City High and No. 6 Waukee finally took center stage at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

A fifth-inning surge gave the Little Hawks what they needed to pull out a 2-0 win over the Warriors to earn the final spot in the 4A state semifinals.

"Really just a big team performance there," said City High pitcher Jaxton Schroeder. "Defense made a lot of big plays in clutch situations that we needed and put the runs up that we needed so got the job done."

Schroeder— all 6-foot-5 of him—tossed six scoreless innings and earned six strikeouts while allowing just five hits. The junior notched an RBI single in the fifth inning that gave the Little Hawks the spark needed to stay in state title contention.

It was a slugfest between two programs that have never won a baseball state title. City High returned to the state tournament after being bounced in last year’s quarterfinals against Ames while Waukee found its way back to state after missing out last season.

Both defenses were tested in the first few frames Wednesday.

The Little Hawks had a chance to strike first in the bottom of the second inning. After back-to-back singles and a hit by pitch loaded up the bases, Waukee pitcher Grant Sorensen fanned City High’s Owen Hicks to escape the jam.

"We knew Sorensen was going to be a competitor on the mound, we expected to see him," said City High coach Brian Mitchell. "I'd just say they're pretty gritty in what they do--very fast--we just had to take some of that stuff away and the way you take that away is you throw strikes."

In the top of the fourth inning, the Little Hawks gave up a walk and advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt by Sorensen. Braeden Billings got a bunt single to advance Sorensen to third. But catcher Aidan Wetmore caught pinch-runner Payton Mizer leaning too far and picked him off between third and home. A harmless fly out sealed the top of the fourth inning to keep the game scoreless.

The City High offense found life in the bottom of the fifth inning.

After a Raymond Nugent single to right and walk drawn by Jake Mitchell, Schroeder hit an RBI single that broke the deadlock. Senior Kael Kurtz reached first on an error that brought Jake Mitchell in to score and give City High a 2-0 lead.

"Really just hunting fastball," Schroeder said of his approach. "Obviously, didn't put a great swing on it but that's just baseball sometimes; so got the runs in and got the job done."

Jake Mitchell took over the mound and the City High defense put on the finishing touches and helped send the Little Hawks to Thursday's state semifinals.

Waukee baseball finished its season with a 26-17 record. They'll lose 10 seniors in the offseason. Waukee coach Dave Dirkx praised the Warriors for reaching the state tournament after facing adversity last season.

“A year ago we were 18-22, so to flip the script is pretty impressive in one year," Dirkx said. “You lose ball games, that’s part of it. We still fought hard enough to get back here and if we can end every year here, that’s a good year.”

Iowa City High (34-7) will face 7-seed Dowling Catholic (24-15) in the 4A state semifinals on Thursday.

"Really haven't heard much (on Dowling Catholic). I know that (Trever) Baumler threw yesterday so won't be able to face him, but we'll just do the same thing," Schroeder said. "We're going to come out, we're going to play our defense; try to get the job done that way."

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.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City High earns win over Waukee in Iowa high school state baseball tournament quarterfinals