Mustangs trample Northeast for state baseball berth

SOLON ? The dream became a reality.

Now, the Mount Vernon Mustangs can replace those visions of reaching the state tournament with ones of hoisting a trophy.

Mount Vernon qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 1999, beating Northeast, 10-0, in six innings of an Iowa High School Athletic Association Class 2A substate baseball final last night at Spartan Field.

Mount Vernon (26-14) earned the fourth seed and faces Roland-Story (27-13) in a state quarterfinal.

?That?s half of our dream. The other half is winning state,? Mustangs senior C.J. Eldred said. ?Right now, we have to enjoy tonight. It?s huge.?

The victory was sweet after falling short a year ago, according to junior Noah Dahlstrom. The Mustangs wanted to accomplish the feat last season, but were confident they could claim the fourth state berth in school history this time.

?It?s redemption,? Junior Noah Dahlstrom said. ?We just got out here and got it done.?

Mount Vernon had battled injuries and issues during the regular season. The team showed its resolve, piecing things together with a focus on playing its best late. Mount Vernon Coach Jeremy Elliott said they were solid last night and district wins over West Branch and Iowa City Regina.

?You deal with a lot of adversity and you try to figure out how to get through it and better for the postseason,? Mustangs Coach Jeremy Elliott said. ?The boys stuck to the plan and did a great job when it matters.?

The Mustangs balanced offense, received hits from all but two starters and all but one reached base. Mount Vernon proved it could score in bunches, breaking the game wide open with a five-run second.

Jake Pisarik ignited the Mustangs with a one-out single, Spenser Drahos walked and Luke Hansen?s base hit scored Pisarik. Dahlstrom pushed a squeeze bunt past the pitcher for a hit that scored Drahos. Trey Ryan, who was 1-for-2 with two walks, added an RBI double and Eldred had a run-scoring single to give Mount Vernon a 6-0 lead.

?It seems like with this team if we get one it kind of snowballs in a good way,? Eldred said. ?Everybody starts seeing and hitting the ball hard. You hit the ball hard good things happen.?

Mount Vernon put four straight guys on base in the sixth to close out the shortened win. Hansen and Dahlstrom had consecutive singles. Dahlstrom?s second hit drove in Drahos and he scored the final run on Connor Welch?s sacrifice-fly to left.

?When we get started early, before we get a few outs, everybody feeds off that,? Dahlstrom said. ?It gets the courage up and we know we can.?

The Mustangs manufactured an important early run, recording just one official at-bat in the first. Ryan led off with a walk and Eldred?s sac bunt moved him in scoring position. Ryan stole third and scored on Marquis Dew?s sacrifice fly.

?It?s a big deal to get them put down and get us going,? Elliott said. ?It?s important to get runs early so our at-bats are relaxed a little bit and we were able to do some good things at the plate.?

They reversed a trend of not getting the key hit and being tense at the plate.

?We knew coming in this was going to be the game our bats were going to explode,? Eldred said. ?We did it.?

Mount Vernon freshman Adam Kettelson threw a gem, allowing only three hits. Northeast (24-9) managed to get only one runner to second, but came no closer to scoring.

?He did a fantastic job,? Elliott said. ?He?s a fearless freshman. He just wants the ball in his hand all the time.?

Davenport Assumption ended the season for a different Wamac team. The Knights dropped West Delaware, 7-6, in a 3A district final in the opener.

The Knights were powered by a five-run third inning, taking a 6-3 lead. Assumption?s Cayton Wallace had one of two RBI doubles to highlight the rally after the Hawks scored a run in the top of the inning.

The inning was pivotal.

?I thought we were poised to put up a crooked number and they got out of it,? West Delaware Coach Mike Morrison said. ?We gave up three unearned runs. You have to give Assumption credit. We gave them an opportunity and they swing the bat and strung hits together.?

West Delaware (22-15) chipped away, scoring twice in the final inning and placing the tying run on second with two outs. Andrew Quested came in for relief and struck out the final batter for Assumption (22-15).

Morrison said the Hawks don?t have a potent offense. He said he thought the?six-run and?eight-hit performance was admirable.

?I was proud of how we responded and fought all the way to the end,? Morrison said. ?We were one or two swings of the bat away from tying or winning.?

The loss was tough for Morrison, who coached his last game. After 534 career wins, he reached the district final 21 times, but won eight. Morrison will assume?his new role as the school?s?Athletics Director.

?It certainly is (tough),? Morrison said about the conclusion of his baseball coaching endeavors.

Morrison added, ?We held no expectations but to play as well as we could every night and see what happens.

?It was a fantastic effort. They were gutsy.?

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