Iowa
5 Gazette area high school baseball games to watch in Week 9
Class 4A No. 3 Iowa City High welcomes No. 4 Johnston; Solon heads to Wahlert in a possible substate final preview; Marion and Liberty prep for postseason; districts and substates in full effect
By the end of the week, all four classes will be competing in the postseason. Class 1A and 2A will continue district play Tuesday and Saturday. Some intriguing matchups close the regular season with 3A and 4A substates begin Friday.
MONDAY: JOHNSTON AT IOWA CITY HIGH
City High hosts the two-time defending state champions at Mercer Park. The Little Hawks are ranked third in Class 4A, while the Dragons are No. 4. Both are No. 1 substate seeds. City High has qualified for the last two state tournaments, but the Dragons have created a dynasty. They have qualified for the state tournament the last eight seasons, reaching the championship game the last five years and six of the last seven. Johnston won titles in 2023, 2022, 2020 and 2017. The Dragons are 30-5. Adam Kayko leads the way for Johnston, tallying 40 hits and driving in 34 runs. Cole Kinman is batting .400 with a .525 on-base percentage. Adrian Broadus, Mitch Naig and Cade Ogden have 5 wins apiece. Ogden has a 1.03 earned-run average and 38 strikeouts in 34 innings, while Broadus has 48 strikeouts and a 2.39 ERA in 38 innings. City High can match Johnston shutdown pitching, posting a 1.77 team ERA. Talon Young and Jaxton Schroeder are the top Little Hawks hurlers. Schroeder is 6-0 with a 1.22 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings. Young is 4-2 with a 1.51 ERA. City High has a deep staff to make a postseason run and this game will mirror a postseason atmosphere. A key will be whether the City High offense can scratch out some run support.
MONDAY: SOLON AT DUBUQUE WAHLERT
The Spartans take on the Golden Eagles in a top-10 meeting at McAleece Park and Recreation Complex in Dubuque. Wahlert is ranked third and Solon is No. 8 in 3A. This could be a prelude to a 3A substate 4 final next week. The Golden Eagles are the top-seed and open the postseason against Maquoketa. Solon plays Vinton-Shellsburg in the first round. The substate also includes contenders Mount Vernon, West Delaware, Clear Creek Amana and Williamsburg, which moves up a class after a 2A state appearance last year. Wahlert (29-8) has been one of the hottest teams, beating Dyersville Beckman and sweeping Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Linn-Mar during a current eight-game win streak. Solon (26-10) has won five straight as well. Brett White ranks among the state leaders in home runs with 11. He also has 36 RBIs and .389 average. Vince Steinbrech leads Solon with a 7-0 record and 47 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings.
TUESDAY: CLASS 1A AND 2A DISTRICT SEMIFINALS
District semifinals are slated for Tuesday in Class 1A and 2A. Single-game sites will be held in 1A. Among the Gazette-area hosts are South Winneshiek, Lansing Kee, North Linn, East Buchanan, Sigourney and Hillcrest Academy in Kalona. South Winn (21-9) hosts Dunkerton (9-11) and are the loan 2023 state qualifier in the field. If the Warriors advance, they will face the winner of Turkey Valley (11-15-1) and Kee Hawks in the 1A District 8 finals. South Winn swept all six regular-season games against Kee and Turkey Valley this year. Belle Plaine (11-10) plays at East Buchanan (14-8) in 1A D10. Both won one-run, eight-inning games to advance.
In 2A, district doubleheaders will be held at the same site. Defending state champion and No. 5 Dyersville Beckman (17-10) hosts Monticello (12-11). The Blazers and Panthers split a doubleheader July 3. The winner will face the winner between Cascade (12-12) and Iowa City Regina (14-18). Jesup (17-9) travels to Alburnett (24-11) for one of the top 2A semifinal matchups. The J-Hawks’ Jack Miller and Pirates’ Karson Rose are among the leaders for both teams. At Monona, MFL MarMac (23-7) hosts Denver (5-19) and Waukon (11-17) takes on Starmont (16-8). Anamosa (18-9) hosts Winfield-Mount Union (9-11) after Mid-Prairie (19-9) faces Mediapolis (20-7).
WEDNESDAY: MARION AT IOWA CITY LIBERTY
A good postseason tune-up game for both teams. Marion is 28-4 and is ranked second in 3A. Iowa City Liberty owns a 23-13 record and is No. 4 in the 4A poll. Both are No. 1 seeds in their respective substate bracket. The Wolves have reached state in five of the last seven seasons, winning the 3A title in 2021. The Lightning have reached the 4A state tournament the last two years, qualifying in 2023, which was the first season under Coach Uby Martinez. Liberty has won three of four meetings with Marion, including a 10-5 win a year ago. Liberty’s Mason Waterbury has been phenomenal, recording nine wins with a 0.14 ERA and striking out 53 in 51 innings. Ryan Schmierer leads the Lightning with 47 hits and 22 RBIs. Marion doesn’t have a superstar but finds success in the collective. The Wolves average 10 runs a game but only give up 2.7 per contest. Isaiah Scott has 45 hits and Trey Franck has 35 RBIs for Marion.
FRIDAY: CLASS 3A AND 4A FIRST ROUND SUBSTATE
The two biggest classes will begin the postseason Friday. In 4A, Kennedy, City High, Linn-Mar and Liberty are all No. 1 seeds. The Cougars host Waterloo West. The Little Hawks open against Clinton. The Lions have Cedar Rapids Jefferson and the Lightning welcome Waterloo East. Cedar Rapids Prairie hosts Iowa City West. Cedar Rapids Washington travels to Southeast Polk.
In 3A, two-time defending state champion Western Dubuque is top-seeded and hosts Charles City with the winner taking on Independence or Decorah in next week’s semifinals. Marion is the No. 1 seed in 3A Substate 6 and opens with South Tama. Cedar Rapids Xavier hosts Nevada with the winner advancing to play the Wolves or Trojans in the semifinal. Benton Community will also start the postseason at home, facing Gilbert.
Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com
Iowa
Zach Lahn projected to win Iowa GOP governor primary, upsetting Trump’s pick in a state Democrats hope to flip
Zach Lahn will win the Republican primary for Iowa governor, CBS News projects, overcoming a Trump-backed congressman and setting up a November contest against Democrat Rob Sand that could be one of this year’s most competitive gubernatorial races.
Lahn — a farmer and businessman who has touted his ties to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement — prevailed over a crowded GOP field on Tuesday. Sand, who serves as state auditor, ran for the Democratic nomination unopposed.
His victory bucks the recent winning streak of Trump-backed candidates and marks an upset over Rep. Randy Feenstra, who didn’t attend any primary debates and was viewed by many observers as a frontrunner. President Trump endorsed Feenstra last week, calling him “MAGA all the way,” and several top Iowa GOP figures backed him.
Feenstra conceded late Tuesday night, saying in a speech surrounded by his family that the outcome “wasn’t what I wanted.”
Describing himself as a sixth-generation Iowan, Lahn owns a family farm and runs the agriculture, real estate and technology investment firm Homeplace Ventures. He previously worked for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity. He’s running on a populist-inflected platform that he branded “Iowa First” and has said he wants to boost local ownership of farmland, stem the flow of younger Iowans out of the state and address Iowa’s high cancer rate.
“I fear every day we are losing the Iowa we love,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday, castigating out-of-state investors that he says “treat Iowa land like it’s a commodity instead of our inheritance.”
Lahn was endorsed last year by MAHA Action, a group founded by allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and he picked up support from the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action last week. He was also endorsed by former Rep. Steve King, who was known for incendiary comments about race before Feenstra ousted him in a 2020 primary.
Three other candidates also ran: former Iowa Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Lahn will now face Sand, a two-term state auditor who defeated a GOP incumbent in 2018 after working in the state attorney general’s office.
Sand has focused his campaign on government accountability and faulted Republicans for the state’s economic issues, while pitching universal pre-K and criticizing a school voucher program introduced by GOP officials. He has also sought to cultivate a moderate image on social issues, as Republicans try to cast him as a liberal in centrist’s clothing.
In a campaign video late Tuesday, Sand said Republican voters are “welcome in this campaign,” adding that the state’s political system is “broken” and “all you would get with Zach Lahn it is more of the same.”
Once considered a swing state, Iowa has trended sharply red in recent years as Democrats increasingly struggle on rural Midwestern terrain. Mr. Trump won the state three times in a row, including by a 13-point margin in 2024, and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds won reelection by 18 points four years ago. Iowa hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in two decades, and Sand is the only statewide elected Democrat, after he won reelection by fewer than 3,000 votes in 2022.
But Democrats are hopeful that a challenging political environment for Republicans, both nationally and in Iowa, could make them more competitive in the midwestern state. The Cook Political Report has rated the Iowa gubernatorial race a tossup, one of five states with that distinction this year, and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics says the race leans red.
Reynolds — who has led the state since 2017 — has one of the lowest approval ratings of any governor nationwide. Iowa farmers also struggled last year after the trade war with China caused Beijing to cut American soybean imports, pushing down prices of one of Iowa’s most widely grown crops, and the war with Iran has caused a run-up in fuel and fertilizer prices.
Reynolds declined to run for reelection this year, setting up Iowa’s first gubernatorial election without an incumbent in the race since 2006.
Lahn lent his campaign $2 million last year, but is heading into the general election at a fundraising disadvantage. His campaign had just over $700,000 on hand as of mid-May, compared to nearly $18.3 million for the Sand campaign. Sand’s wife runs a sizable food and health products company founded by her family called the Lauridsen Group, and the Democrat’s campaign coffers have been bolstered by millions in contributions from his in-laws.
Sand raised about $9.7 million between the start of the year and mid-May, just over $3 million of which came from members of his wife’s family. Lahn raised just under $1 million.
Beyond the governor’s race, Iowa also has an open Senate contest after Ernst declined to seek reelection, drawing interest from Democrats, though Republicans likely have a sizable edge. Democrats are also heavily targeting two of Iowa’s four House seats, including the 1st District, where incumbent GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won by fewer than 1,000 votes in 2024.
Iowa
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