Trever Baumler pitches shutout to send Dowling Catholic to state baseball tournament

The Dowling Catholic baseball team sat at 12-14 on June 22, seemingly miles behind the powers of Ankeny Centennial and Johnston in the CIML.

"We were just struggling to play clean baseball," Dowling coach Mark Roering said. "We kind of had to change our identity from thinking we're going to go out and get eight, nine or 10 hits a game and we had to start playing a little bit more small ball."

The Maroons eventually figured it out, and on Wednesday they beat Ankeny Centennial 2-0 in a Class 4A substate final to advance to next week's state tournament.

Down the stretch, the Maroons turned to the rarely used but strong arm of senior Trever Baumler. After missing the previous two seasons due to an elbow injury and strain and a good portion of his freshman season, this was one of the first full and healthy seasons Baumler has had on the mound.

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With his fastball reaching the low-90s, he's a weapon that few batters can touch. Behind his arm and some quality at-bats as a .329 hitter, the Maroons rallied by winning 11 of their last 12 games, including a pair of shutouts in their substate bracket.

Baumler tossed eight shutout innings against Ames in the quarterfinals, allowing just five hits and striking out 10. In the substate final at Centennial, he followed it up with another shutout effort in seven innings, striking out 12 this time. Baumler had a hit, an RBI and two walks in the victory. Carter Nicholson had three hits for Dowling.

Baumler's command against the Jaguars proved crucial as he threw 77 pitches, with 63 of them being strikes according to his father Brad Baumler.

"It's just awfully efficient," Brad Baumler said. "You just don't see a lot of that."

For anyone who knows the Baumler name or has followed Trever's career, this comes as little surprise. His brother, Carter, is in the minor-league system of the Baltimore Orioles, and Trever lived up to lofty expectations his big brother set for him. Yet, Trever Baumler has found a way to make his senior run even more impressive, sitting with a 1.17 ERA and averaging just a tick under 10 strikeouts a game.

The night before his stellar outing against Ames, Baumler caught an evening flight from Texas to Iowa for his game against the Little Cyclones. A Texas Christian commit, Baumler has begun taking summer classes in Fort Worth as he begins college.

In some of his first days in the dorm, Baumler picked up the dreaded college flu, the traditional new-environment illness so many face when arriving at college for the first time. Coming into that game against Ames, jet-lagged with a head cold, he still found a way to push his Maroons one step closer.

June 24 story: Trever Baumler is back on the pitcher's mound and dominating for Dowling Catholic

As he awaited a potential next start in a substate final should his squad defeat Des Moines Roosevelt, Baumler and his family were faced with a monumental life decision, too, as the MLB Draft got underway on July 14. As a guy who has seen what injuries can do to a pitcher, the opportunity to jump to the pros and make life-changing money was a serious consideration.

Yet, he chose Dowling and TCU.

"I turned down some pretty good offers at the beginning of this week to go pro," Baumler said. "Ultimately, the goal of mine and ever since I was little was to go to the College World Series and play for a high-end school like TCU."

Baumler wasn't going to have much time to celebrate the win over Centennial. He was set for a 5 a.m. flight back to TCU on Thursday, head cold and all. Before the state tournament gets underway Tuesday, he'll make another flight back to Des Moines.

His dedication to the sport and loyalty to his programs bring tears to the eyes of his father, who spent Trever's childhood sharing moments in the batting cage. They also shared some moments butting heads as two similar personalities.

Trever Baumler leads a Dowling squad that is full of veterans. Of the 10 batters who have played in 30 or more games, six are seniors and three are juniors. Next to Baumler in the pitching staff is senior Cole Southard, who has a 3.10 ERA and 46 strikeouts in nine starts.

For this Baumler and this crew, it's one last ride for a team that has never earned that crowning achievement.

"The job's not finished," Baumler said. "I've been here three times, so I'm ready to go on to win a state title."

Other substate finals

Dowling Catholic was one of several Des Moines-area baseball teams to earn state tournament berths on Wednesday. Others included: Waukee, Dallas Center-Grimes, Johnston, Waukee Northwest and North Polk.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Trever Baumler pitches shutout to send Dowling Catholic to state baseball tournament