Dowling Catholic topples Iowa City High to reach 4A Iowa state baseball tournament final

CEDAR RAPIDS — Although reaching this round has required sidestepping more adversity than usual, No. 7 seed Dowling Catholic continues to flex its baseball muscle all the same.

The Maroons are one win away from the program's first state championship since 2011, after securing Thursday's 5-1 win over No. 3 seed Iowa City High in the Class 4A state semifinals at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Dowling Catholic (25-15) will get No. 1 seed Cedar Rapids Kennedy (35-4) in Friday's 7:30 p.m. championship bout.

More quality mound work allowed Dowling to grab control. The Maroons entered Thursday's semifinal having yielded just one postseason run, and Cole Southard wasn't about to break the trend. The senior right-hander prevented the Little Hawks from mounting much, yielding just five hits and one run over seven strong innings. Southard punched out eight and didn't walk a batter on 106 pitches.

"That the best way to play, have a lot of fun with it," Southard said. "My fastball felt great. I felt like I could locate wherever I needed to. My competitive edge, I felt like, just took over. Had a fun time out there. I just tried to compete as much as I could."

That effort allowed the Dowling bats time to get loose. While Tuesday's 2-1 quarterfinal win over Dallas Center-Grimes centered on cashing in after several failed chances, this showing saw the Maroons dent the scoreboard early to set the tone.

RBI singles from Jack Barrett and Parker DePhillips handed Dowling a 2-0 lead in the second, then a three-run fourth followed to pad the cushion. Run-scoring knocks via Nick Frerichs and Joey Nahas — plus a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch from Trever Baumler — handed Dowling a robust 5-0 advantage.

City High tried to chip away, plating one in the third on Jake Mitchell's RBI single to create a bit of noise. But anything more wasn't coming. The Little Hawks finished 2-for-11 with runners on and 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

"We work the whole year to get up to this point," City High pitcher Johannes Boevers said. "I wanted to be the best version of myself this season, and I hoped I reached that."

For all the years Dowling has shown up at the state tournament with gaudy records and lofty expectations that weren't quite met, the Maroons are riding a mighty postseason wave after a pedestrian regular season. Dowling's 15 losses are tied for the program's most since 2009, while its 25 wins are the program's fewest in that same timeframe (other than the shortened 2020 season). None of that's mattered, though, as Mark Roering's squad keeps pushing forward like a veteran unit knowing when to shine.

It'll be a pro-Kennedy crowd Friday night — a fan base bubbling with excitement after a wild semifinal win over defending champ Johnston on Ty Donels' walkoff homer. The Cougars have been 4A's top dog all year and are hungry for the program's first state championship since 2010.

Just another hurdle for Dowling to endure. None of them to this point have been much of a problem.

"We've stuck together as a team and never gave up," catcher Matt Hanten said. "It could've been easy to just call it quits when we were below .500 and didn't really have anything going for us. We got hot at the right time, and it's really paying off."

Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dowling Catholic topples Iowa City High to reach 4A Iowa state baseball tournament final