After reaching the Iowa high school baseball state tournament semifinals for the first time since 1996, No. 5 seed Saydel ran into a buzzsaw, as No.1 Wahlert Catholic raced to a 10-0 mercy rule victory.

Wahlert Catholic senior pitcher Foti Rigopoulos shined on the mound and at the plate at Lewis and Clark Park in Sioux City on July 23. In five innings, he allowed only three hits and struck out seven batters. He also had two RBIs, one shy of game-leader junior Noah Krapfl’s three, to help secure the victory.

The Golden Eagles got on the board first in the bottom of the second, with Krapfl’s groundout to first allowing senior Joe  Huinker to score. Saydel stopped the bleeding early in the outing by stranding a runner at third to keep it at 1-0, but it was all Wahlert from there.

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The Wahlert Catholic offense caught fire in the bottom of the third, with 10 hitters coming to the plate. Junior Brandon Cummer blasted a drive to deep center field to drive home JP Elbert and Will Specht for a two-RBI triple and a 3-0 lead. Cummer got home thanks to a sacrifice fly from Rigopoulos to push the advantage to 4-0. Krapfl posted another pair of RBIs with a single that drove in Huinker and freshman pinch runner Jacob Pierro to extend his team’s edge to 6-0 entering the fourth.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Wahlert Catholic junior Charlie Thole and Specht scored on an error to make the lead 8-0. A crafty base running move brought home the ninth run, as freshman Gavin Ready began to steal second base to draw the attention of the defense, allowing junior Graham Ahlers to steal home from third base. Saydel fired to home to try and prevent the score, but was not in time and Ready advanced to second.

Wahlert Catholic closed the game out in the bottom of the fifth, with Rigopoulos securing his win. The bases were loaded with one out, and his sacrifice fly drove home junior Brody Schumacher from third base for the 10-0 victory.

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As a result, No. 1 Wahlert Catholic advances to face either No. 2 Pella vs. No. 3 Bishop Heelan in the state title game July 25.

A stellar season for Saydel came to an end with the loss. The Eagles finished with a 29-8 record, reaching the state tournament and winning the Heart of Iowa conference both for the first time since 2017.

A good chunk of its production returns in 2026. Four of the program’s top six hitters will be back, including junior Kamden Jorgensen, who leads the state in home runs this year with 15.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.