By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Mount Pleasant Baseball Splits Against Knoxville:
The Mount Pleasant baseball team rallied from down 7-1, cut the Knoxville lead to 7-6 and loaded the bases in the 7th inning, but Corbin Broeker grounded out as Knoxville snapped Mount Pleasant’s five-game winning streak.
Mount Pleasant scored five runs in the 6th inning to pull within one run after Knoxville scored three runs in each of the 3rd and 4th innings to jump out to the big lead.
The Panthers left the bases loaded in both the 6th and 7th innings, stranding nine base-runners in total.
Clayton Lowery took the loss for Mount Pleasant, allowing six earned runs over four innings, striking out two.
Jack Johnson was 3-for-3 with a double and run batted in, while Brennan Bender had two hits in three trips.
In game two, Rylan Seberg pitched five innings, allowing just two runs while striking out eight as the Panthers crushed Knoxville 12-2 in five innings.
Jack Johnson had two hits and a run batted in, while Will Edeker finished with two hits.
Seberg, who got it done on the mound, also provided a punch at the plate, finishing game two with three runs batted in.
The split moves Mount Pleasant to 12-6, they’ll take on Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont tonight at Mount Pleasant beginning with JV at 5:30 p.m.
Other regional scores last night:
Fort Madison 5, Mediapolis 4
Columbus vs. Winfield, PPD — They’ll play today at 1:00 p.m. in Winfield for their first round playoff match-up.
Washington 9, Oskaloosa 8
Indianola 9, Fairfield 6
Mount Pleasant Softball at Home Tonight:
The Mount Pleasant softball team is back on their home diamond tonight when they play host to the Wilton Beavers for a varsity doubleheader.
The Panthers were swept by Davis County earlier this week after defeating #14 (1A) Winfield-Mount Union 4-3.
Wilton enters with a record of 10-3 — good enough for second in the River Valley-South standings.
Tonight’s double dip will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Other regional softball games tonight:
North Scott at Louisa-Muscatine
West Burlington at Burlington
Fort Madison at Central Lee
Fairfield at Pekin
And in baseball:
Keokuk at Van Buren County
Burlington at Fairfield
Clear Creek-Amana at Washington
Iowa Wesleyan Wrestling Announces Coaching Staff:
Iowa Wesleyan head wrestling coach Shawn Contos has finalized his 2020-21 coaching staff, the school announced.
Jacob Kadel will join the Tigers as the Assistant Wrestling Coach. Kadel, a New London native, was a three-time state semi-finalist and four-time conference champion at New London, boasting a high school career record of 189-13.
He holds the records for wins in a season with 50 and wins in a career with 189.
After high school, Kadel became a member of the University of Iowa’s wrestling team, where he accumulated a career record of 23-18.
Stephen Holloway, a West Burlington native and Cash Wilcke, a native of Battle Creek, will be the first graduate assistants for the Wesleyan wrestling program.
Holloway was a two-time state champion (2014-15), four-time conference champion, state runner-up in 2013, state qualifier in 2012, and the Burlington Hawkeye Athlete of the Year (2015) while attending Mediapolis High School. He too wrestled for the the University of Iowa.
Meanwhile Wilcke recorded two state championships while attending OA-BCIG high school. He was also a four-time conference champion, two-time state medalist and holds the record for takedowns and pins at OA-BCIG.
Wilcke, who also wrestled for the Hawkeyes, finished his career with a record of 63-29.
Big Ten Announces Conference Only Football Schedule:
The Big Ten will play only conference games during the 2020 football season — the league announced yesterday.
The decision stems from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cancellation of non-conference games results in fans losing marquee match-ups such as Iowa-Iowa State, Ohio State-Oregon, Michigan-Washington and Wisconsin-Notre Dame.
The Big Ten is expected to be just the first domino in the cancellation of non-conference games this fall.