Grundy Center catcher Pete Lebo hit a home run for the third-consecutive game, sparking the Spartan baseball team to an 8-0 victory over Crestwood in a Class 2A District 6 semifinal at the George Wilhelm Sports Complex on Tuesday night.
The No. 9 Spartans (22-3) will take on North Fayette Valley (7-25) in Grundy Center on Saturday for the District 6 title. The TigerHawks upended No. 10 Sumner-Fredericksburg-Tripoli, 2-1, in the first game of Tuesday’s district doubleheader at Grundy Center.
Lebo smashed a three-run home run over the right field wall in the bottom of the first inning and finished with five runs batted in on three hits, adding a two-run hit in a five-run fifth inning that put the Cadets out of reach.
“Batting practice has probably been one of my best things these last few games. It’s great to be able to see the ball,” Lebo said. “It’s looking big, and I just feel like I could crush it around the whole ballpark.”
In the last three games, Lebo is 7-of-11 from the plate with a triple, three home runs, 13 runs batted in and seven runs scored.
“The ball must look like a beach ball coming in for Pete,” Grundy Center head coach Pat Brown II said. “He’s hot.”
Crestwood struggled against Spartan starter Judd Jirovsky to start, but after three perfect innings the Cadets threatened to cut into Grundy’s early lead in the fourth and fifth innings.
On both occasions, Jirovsky buckled down with strikeouts to get out of the threat; in the fourth, the bases were loaded with two outs before a Jirovsky strikeout and the Cadets had runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out in the fifth before back-to-back strikeouts from the junior ace, throwing five shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, no walks and four hits allowed on 74 pitches. Jirovsky improved his ERA to 0.14 and his record to 9-0 on the mound this season.
After the five-run explosion from the Spartans in the fifth, senior Ryker Thoren took the mound for two scoreless innings of relief.
“They’re both locating their pitches and are very smart pitchers,” Lebo said. “They know what they’re going to throw, who they’re up against, what’s the situation, they just get the job done.”
Brody Zinkula had an RBI hit and sophomore Ethan Meester knocked in two more runs in that five-run fifth. Brayden Davie added two hits and a run scored in the leadoff position.
Sophomores like Meester and Hayden Geerdes, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, are following the lead of the upperclassmen to find ways to contribute in the bottom half of the lineup.
“We just watch what those guys contribute to the team,” Geerdes said. “See how they improve each day and follow that.”
The Substate 3 bracket has already been busted — in addition to NFV’s win on Tuesday, top-seeded No. 8 Iowa City Regina was shut out by Cascade, 4-0, on Tuesday.
On paper, that would clear a path for the Spartans, the only ranked team remaining in the bracket, on their road to the state tournament at Merchants Park in Carroll. But seeing the 25-loss TigerHawks making plays to send an NICL team with a better record home is serving as fair warning to the Spartans, Brown II said.
“Everybody’s 0-0 in the postseason,” Brown II said. “They’ve got zero to lose, playing with house money. … Ultimately, if we do what we’ve got to do, throw strikes, keep the ball in play, and are aggressive like we are, it shouldn’t be an issue.
“It’s a trap game, big time, but these guys are hungry. They’ve been successful in football, basketball, golf, track, and a lot of these guys want that feather in their cap and make it for baseball. They’re dialed in, locked in, and ready to go.”
JAKE RYDER SPORTS 