Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz considered entering the NBA Draft before deciding to follow Ben McCollum to Iowa. Stirtz was the Missouri Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year after leading Drake to a school record 31 wins and a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the lone season with McCollum as head coach.

Stirtz says there was actually a point where he thought he would enter the draft.

His focus now is helping the Iowa program get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Stirtz is expected to be the leader of a team that has only one scholarship player returning and he is working on become more of a vocal leader.

Iowa coach Ben McCollum believes Stirtz has a future in the NBA.

McColllum believes Stirtz has a game that translates to the next level.

McCollum calls Stirtz a late bloomer. He began his college career at Northwest Missouri State before following McCollum to Drake.

Glidden-Ralston defeated Audubon Saturday night 6-4 to advance in the Class 1A Substate 8 Tournament behind a four-run sixth inning. Wildcat ace, Senior Colby Wallace threw all seven innings for Glidden-Ralston striking out eight. Despite, losing the game Audubon had the lead for a majority of the battle.

The Wheelers attacked early with the first two runners reaching on an error and an infield single. With a few runners on, Mason Steckler rolled a groundball to second scoring Brody Schultes to hand Audubon a 2-0 lead after an inning. Senior Adam Obrecht also went all seven innings on the mound for Audubon. Head Coach Eric Borkowski said it was a heck of an outing for the senior.

Later on in the third, Glidden-Ralston threw a punch and tied the game at two. Leadoff hitter Collin Sturm reached on an infield error and driven in by Blayce Nelson’s single. Eventually, Nelson was able to score on a second Audubon infield error.

In the bottom half of the third, Senior Gabe Jenson led the inning off with a single through the left side. After advancing on a wild pitch and a passed ball, Steckler drove in his second run of the game on another fielder’s choice groundout.

Both Wallace and Obrecht peaked in the middle innings as the score remained 3-2 through the fourth and fifth innings.

Junior Carson Peters led the sixth off with a double off the wall and then scored on an error to tie the game. Later in the inning, four consecutive hits including a two-RBI double put Glidden-Ralston ahead 6-3 behind an energetic Wildcat fanbase in the stands.

Audubon down three with six outs to work with led off the bottom half with a single by Brody Weber. Leadoff hitter Jack Stanerson made it a two-run ballgame with an RBI single to left field.

In the seventh, Wallace finished the job throwing 100+ pitches and securing a 6-4 win and another playoff game for the Wildcats.

Borkowski says the Wheelers didn’t make quite enough plays to come out on top.

Glidden-Ralston advances to play Coon-Rapids Bayard Monday, while Audubon ends their season at 6-16.

Class 1A District 13 First Round 

Stanton – 4 vs Griswold – 0

East Union – 7 vs Murray – 6

Earlham – 12 vs Southwest Valley – 1

Class 1A District 15 First Round 

Glidden-Ralston – 6 vs Audubon – 4

CAM – 7 vs Ar-We-Va – 0

Newell-Fonda – 6 vs IKM-Manning – 5

Class 1A District 10 First Round 

Moravia – 3 vs Danville – 1 

Class 1A District 12 First Round 

Madrid at Southeast Warren (suspended top 5th, Southeast Warren up 3-0)

Ankeny Christian – 9 vs Melcher-Dallas – 2

Class 1A District 14 First Round 

Lenox – 23 vs Essex – 1 

East Mills – 5 vs Fremont-Mills – 4

Bedford – 5 vs Riverside – 4 

Mount Ayr – 13 vs Sidney – 0

Class 2A District 15 First Round 

Clarinda – 5 vs Shenandoah – 0

Treynor – 15 vs Missouri Valley – 1

Class 2A District 10 First Round 

Albia – 14 vs Central Decatur – 4 

Non-Conference 

Bishop Heelan Catholic – 3 vs Lewis Central – 2 

Ankeny Centennial – 8 vs Sioux City North – 4

Ankeny Centennial – 13 vs Sioux City North – 3 

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Atlantic – 7 vs Red Oak – 5

Clarinda – 8 vs Creston – 3

Harlan – 18 vs St. Albert – 3

Harlan – 18 vs St. Albert – 9

Kuemper Catholic – 10 vs Denison-Schleswig – 9 in 8 innings

Shenandoah – 8 vs Glenwood – 7 

Corner Conference

East Mills – 15 vs Essex – 0

Western Iowa Conference

Tri-Center – 12 vs IKM-Manning – 1

Pride of Iowa Conference

Mount Ayr – 12 vs Lenox – 8 

Southwest Valley – 6 vs Nodaway Valley – 4 

Missouri River Conference 

Abraham Lincoln – 16 vs Le Mars – 1 

Abraham Lincoln – 9 vs Le Mars – 8

Thomas Jefferson – 4 vs Sioux City West – 2

Sioux City West – 6 vs Thomas Jefferson – 3 

Non-Conference 

Logan-Magnolia – 11 vs Stanton – 1

Hawkeye Ten Conference 

Atlantic – 4 vs St. Albert – 1

Atlantic – 8 vs St. Albert – 0

Glenwood – 6 vs Shenandoah – 0

Creston – 6 vs Clarinda – 5

Creston – 5 vs Clarinda – 0 

Denison-Schleswig – 9 vs Kuemper Catholic – 1

Kuemper Catholic – 8 vs Denison-Schleswig – 6 

St. Albert – 8 vs Harlan – 0 

Non-Conference 

Griswold-CAM – 5 vs Madrid – 4 in 9 innings

Lewis Central – 8 vs Missouri Valley – 1

Missouri Valley – 1 vs Lewis Central – 0

IKM-Manning – 6 vs Ar-We-Va – 3

Wayne – 7 vs Davis County – 1

Interstate 35 – 13 vs Southeast Warren – 10

Panorama – 8 vs Glidden-Ralston – 3

Van Meter  – 18 vs Saydel – 3

Ogden – 8 vs Greene County – 7

West Central Activities Conference 

West Central Valley – 8 vs ACGC – 0

Corner Conference

East Mills – 14 vs Essex – 2

Western Iowa Conference 

Treynor – 11 vs Underwood – 0

Pride of Iowa Conference

Nodaway Valley – 14 vs East Union – 1

Mount Ayr – 7 vs Lenox – 6

Missouri River Conference

Le Mars – 6 vs Abraham Lincoln – 1 

Le Mars – 11 vs Abraham Lincoln – 3 

Sioux City West – 8 vs Thomas Jefferson – 3

Sioux City West – 14 vs Thomas Jefferson – 3 

The Atlantic baseball team defeated Red Oak 6-4 Thursday night powered by a three-run first inning and behind six innings and change on the mound from Junior Jack Muller. Assistant Head Coach Gaylord Schelling gave all the credit to the boys and their effort.

The scoring began early for the Trojans with four consecutive batters getting on base highlighted by a Zayden Parker RBI double scoring Gavin McLaren. Muller had a three-run lead in his back pocket before throwing his first pitch of the night.

Mullen says first inning struggles have been a common theme but to attack early was huge.

Later in the third, Junior Kale Jensen smoked a ball to left that smacked off the scoreboard for a solo home run to give Atlantic a 4-0 lead. Gavin McLaren followed that up with a line drive base hit and eventually driven in on Keston Schmitt’s double. It was 5-0 Trojans heading into the bottom of the third.

The shutout didn’t last long for Atlantic as three singles in the bottom of the third gave Red Oak their first run of the evening as Adam Baier crossed home plate on a Carson Roeder base hit up the middle.

Atlantic responded in the fourth. Muller drew a one-out walk and driven in by Hudson McLaren with a rope down the right field line. Red Oak threw another punch in the bottom half of the inning to get the game back to a four-run Trojan lead.

In the fifth, Atlantic cashed in for another run to go back up five. Gavin McLaren hit a dribbler in the infield and a throwing error led him to get all the way to third. He was later driven home by a Grant Petty RBI single.

Red Oak down four in the bottom of the six became very active on the basepaths and began toying with the Atlantic defense on a pair of first and third situations for the Tigers. Red Oak’s scheme was to draw attention to the runner on first while the runner from third came home to score. On the two discombobulating plays the Tigers cut the lead to 7-4.

Red Oak forced Atlantic to make a pitching change with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and a pair of runners on the base paths. Junior Keston Schmitt entered the ballgame and gave up an RBI single to right field to cut the lead to two. After that, Schmitt shut the door on the Tigers and secured the 7-5 victory. Mullen had high praise for his relief pitcher.

Schelling said the team’s hitting has vastly improved and the way they are playing the game and excited for the journey ahead.

The Trojans are back in action at Greene County on Monday.

The Griswold baseball team begins its postseason journey in Audubon Saturday night with a third matchup with Stanton on the year. The Tigers and the Vikings have split the first two games they have played with both teams winning in the opposing ballpark. Head Coach Ryan Lockwood believes it will be a battle to advance.

The Tigers come into postseason play with 8-14 record and winning all eight of their wins coming against Corner Conference opponents. The Tigers played a doubleheader Tuesday coming up 1-1 with a win against Sidney and a loss against Fremont-Mills.

Griswold is led by senior duo Zane Johnson and Bode Wyman. The pair are hitting well above .300 and on-base percentages of over .440. Wyman has also been crucial on the mound striking out a team-leading 48 batters.

In the two matchups with Stanton, both games have been back and forth with the most recent game going into the eighth. The winner of this matchup will advance to play Martensdale-St. Marys. KJANTV will have the coverage Saturday beginning at 4:50 PM central time from Audubon.

The opening round at the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities continues. George McNeilly reports.

Doug Ghim shot a nine-under-par 62 and says the key going forward will be to remain patient.

Ghim says being nine under is a good start but there is a long way to go.

Max Homa is a shot back after an opening round of eight under 63.

Austin Eckroat is also at eight under.

Iowa State basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger says senior transfer Dominick Nelson has made an immediate impact during summer workouts. The native of Miami average nearly 14 and-a-half points and more than five rebounds per game at Utah Valley where he was named the WAC Player of the Year.

Otzelberger says the six-five guard is working on his perimeter shooting as well as becoming more physical.

Otzelberger has had success with players moving up a level. Curtis Jones went from a lightly recruited player out of high school to an All Big-12 standout.

Nelson says the ISU program is very demanding but it is what makes players better.

Nelson says Iowa State’s success with under recruited players is a big reason he joined the program.

Nelson says he is working to adjust to the physical challenges of the Big-12.