(Sioux City, IA) — Two Western Iowa Conference teams fell in a Substate Final doubleheader in Sioux City on Tuesday night — Logan Magnolia lost in Class 1A to Remsen St. Mary’s 3-2 and Underwood got beat by Unity Christian 4-0 in a Class 2A match up.
In game one, both teams — Logan Magnolia and Remsen St. Mary’s — scored once in the first inning. Aiden King got a one out walk for Lo-Ma and went to second on an error. Cale Cunard brought him home on a RBI single. The Hawks answered back as Jayze Bunkers got a leadoff double, moved to third on a grounder and scored on a sac fly by Dalton Klein to tie the game at 1-1.
Klein was the starter for St. Mary’s and starting with the final out in the first, retired the next 11 in a row. Logan Magnolia starter Mason Van Iten got out of trouble in the 2nd and 3rd innings but Beau Johnson got a leadoff walk for the Hawks in the bottom of the 4th. Brody Penning then doubled to left and Johnson would score on a sac fly from Blade Nelson to make it 2-1.
St. Mary’s added another run in the 5th on a sac fly by Ty Schutpelz to make it 3-1.
Klein gave up a one out single to Macklin Loftus in the 5th but he was doubled off first when Jason Kastner lined out a bunt attempt.
After a 1-2-3 6th, King got a leadoff single in the top of the 7th for the Panthers. Cunard followed with a bloop single. Keenan Kuhlman bunted them over to 2nd and 3rd. Van Iten then hit a grounder to third — Jackson Schroeder got the ball and somehow was able to tag out Cunard. King scored to make it 3-2 but instead of 1st and 3rd with one out, it was a runner on 1st and 2 outs. Klein would then get a strike out to end the game and send Remsen St. Mary’s to the state tournament for the 11th straight time.
In the 2nd game, Junior Adler Van Essen did not have impressive pitching numbers on the stat sheet but he got the start and was dominant — throwing a 2 hit shutout for Unity Christian against Underwood.
The Knights got three runs in the 2nd inning — Brayden Harskamp got a leadoff infield single and was bunted to 2nd base. Brody Emmelkamp reached on an error. Van Essen then got a RBI infield single and Austin Hall drove in two runs with a base hit. Unity added another run in the 4th when Emmelkamp reached on an error and scored on a RBI single by Hall.
Keaton Hawkins got the only two hits for the Eagles. The only other runners to reach base was Ryker Adair on a hit by pitch and Gavin Miles on an error. No Underwood player touched 2nd base in the game.
Game One
Logan Magnolia (25-6) 2 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB
Remsen St. Mary’s (21-6) 3 Runs, 6 Hits, 1 Error, 6 LOB
W: Klein (10-1)
L: Van Iten (2-3)
Time: 1:36
Game Two
Underwood (22-5) 0 Runs, 2 Hits, 3 Errors, 3 LOB
Unity Christian (22-9) 4 Runs, 6 Hits, 1 Error, 8 LOB
W: Van Essen (3-3)
L: Blake Brensel (5-2)
Time: 1:43
