L-S baseball begins title defense against East Buchanan

State Baseball Tournament

Who: No. 3 Lynnville-Sully (24-2) vs. East Buchanan (17-9)

What: Class 1A State Quarterfinals

Where: Merchants Park in Carroll

When: Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Tale of the Tape East Buchanan L-S

Hits 180 236

Runs 188 259 - 9th

Doubles 23 32

Triples 3 6

HR 4 6

Walks 136 119

HBP 27 58 - 9th

Strikeouts (batting) 127 106 - 7th fewest

Total Bases 221 298

Batting Average .271 .356 - 7th

On Base Percentage .411 .458 - 9th

Stolen Bases 146 - 7th 91

Fielding Percentage .936 .949 - 10th

Earned Run Average 2.08 - 6th 1.60 - 3rd

Strikeouts (pitching) 198 273 - 2nd

Opponents’ BA .156 - 6th .127 - 1st

*Rankings are among teams in 1A.

About East Buchanan: The Buccaneers have only two senior starters and one junior on the roster. They suffered an 11-1 loss to No. 10 Mason City Newman earlier this season and fell twice to North Linn during the regular season. East Buchanan also lost 2-1 to 2A state qualifier Cascade. The young Buccaneers come into the state tournament on a bit of a hot streak. They upset No. 8 Don Bosco, 5-4, in the district championship and then got some redemption against No. 5 North Linn, winning 5-4 in the substate championship. Sophomore Keenan Pals leads the team with a .376 batting average and a team-best 32 hits, 24 RBIs and 40 total bases. He has an earned run average of 3.26 on the mound. Senior Will Hansen is batting .359, has an on-base percentage of .539 and leads the Buccaneers with 30 runs and 29 steals. Hansen is 5-1 with an ERA of 1.17 as a pitcher. He has 82 strikeouts in 42 innings. The Bucs won just three games in 2022 but advanced to the state tournament for the first time after beating rival North Linn for only the third time in 16 seasons. East Buchanan will finish with a winning record for the third straight season but only the fourth time since at least 2008-09.

About Lynnville-Sully: The third-ranked defending champion Hawks seek their third straight trip to the 1A semifinals. They come into the state tournament having outscored their opponents 32-4 in the postseason. Lynnville-Sully lost to No. 2 Sigourney, 8-7, on June 16 and split two games against 2A West Marshall on June 21. Senior Carson Maston leads the Hawks with a .423 batting average, boasts a team-best .588 on-base percentage and has totaled a team-most 10 doubles, 21 walks and 46 total bases. Junior JD Richards has a team-best 33 runs and 20 steals, junior Jack Bowlin has registered a team-high 32 hits, senior Lannon Montgomery leads the Hawks with 38 RBIs and senior Terran Gosselink has been hit by a team-most 14 pitches. Maston headlines the pitchers with a 9-0 record. His ERA is 1.25, opponents are batting only .117 against him and he has 111 strikeouts in 56 innings. Bowlin is 5-0 with 52 strikeouts in 31 innings. Gavin Olea is 5-0 with an ERA of .95 and Trace Carlson has two saves and an ERA of .53. Lynnville-Sully is 106-10 the past four seasons and finished 56-0 on its home field during that timeframe. The Hawks’ last home loss came on July 10, 2021. Montgomery started 115 of those games and Maston was in the starting lineup in 109 of them.

What’s At Stake: The Lynnville-Sully/East Buchanan winner advances to the state semifinals and plays the winner between No. 6 Saint Ansgar and Logan-Magnolia at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Carroll. The state championship takes place at 5 p.m. on Friday. The rest of the 1A field includes top-ranked Remsen-St. Mary’s, No. 7 Martensdale-St. Marys, No. 8 Kee and Hillcrest Academy. The Hawks have played Remsen-St. Mary’s in each of the last two state tournaments. They lost 1-0 in the state semifinals in 2023 and downed the other Hawks 7-1 in last year’s state championship game.