ST MARYS — Lynnville-Sully sophomore pitcher Elijah Collins threw six innings of two-hit baseball against fellow South Iowa Cedar League Colfax-Mingo Tuesday in Class 1A District 13 action.
The Hawks used a nine-hit attack in their 4-1 victory against the Tigerhawks to advance to the District 13 semifinals. Lynnville-Sully (15-9) will face 1A ninth-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys at 7 p.m. Thursday in St. Marys.
Martensdale-St. Marys defeated Iowa Christian, 10-3, in the second quarterfinal Tuesday at St. Marys.
Colfax-Mingo made a bid for a seventh-inning rally when junior Adam Teed drew a leadoff walk from Collins. Lynnville-Sully went to junior Tyler Van Zante to close things out, but it wasn’t easy.
Tigerhawk starting pitcher Alex Lewis, a sophomore, was hit by a pitch with one gone. The Hawks turned a double play on a ball hit by C-M senior Gabe Simpson to end the inning and the game.
Lynnville-Sully scored twice in the bottom of the second inning to gain a 2-1 lead. Colfax-Mingo had plated a run in the top of the frame.
It stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning. The Hawks chased Lewis from the mound with two runners on base and no outs. They greeted reliever Jonathan Jacobs, another sophomore, with contact, scoring two more runs.
Senior Ross Van Wyk delivered a single and a double for the Hawks, scoring a run and driving in one run. Senior Kobe Fisk scored twice and had a single.
Hitting a single each for Lynnville-Sully were Van Zante, juniors Caden Dunsbergen and Dylan Rozenboom, seniors Kyle Van Dyke and Noah Engle and sophomore Carson Dunsbergen.
Collins earned the pitching victory for the Hawks, allowing one run on two hits in six innings of work. He walked two and struck out six. Van Zante picked up the save.
Colfax-Mingo’s Lewis worked five complete innings, and was charged with four runs for the loss. Jacobs pitched one inning. No other Colfax-Mingo statistics were available at presstime.
At 14-16, Colfax-Mingo closed out its best season since 2013’s 18-19 campaign. The Tigerhawk baseball team had combined nine wins in the past two seasons. They were 5-24 in 2015 — their final year in the Heart of Iowa Conference.
Colfax-Mingo was 7-9 in its first season playing as a member of the SICL, finishing seventh.