Final: Ames 4, Cedar Falls 3

Little Cyclones will take on Johnston for the Class 4A title Friday night.

FINAL: Dyersville Beckman 11, West Lyon 2

The Blazers batter West Lyon and reach the Class 2A title game for the first time since winning the 2017 championship. They will face Underwood in the final.

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BECKMAN 11, WEST LYON 2, End 5th

Blazers add another run. Nate Offerman is 3-3 with 3 RBIs. The total Beckman has been on base or scored.

BECKMAN 10, WEST LYON 2, End 4th

Zeroes for both teams in the fourth. Beckman in control. Not much else to say. Cue the Harry Doyle quote, "That's why they pay him the big bucks, folks."

BECKMAN 10, WEST LYON 2, End 3rd

The Blazers tack on 3 more, getting a sac fly RBI from Nate Offerman. The Blazers are rolling. Everything going their way and very little not going their way.

BECKMAN 7, WEST LYON 2, Mid 3rd

Nothing for West Lyon in the third. This game has been all Beckman since the bottom of the 1st.

Jack Vanfossan pitches gem to upend Cascade

Underwood’s Jack Vanfossan stymied Cascade batters and the Eagles’ leadoff batter Mason Boothby accounted for two runs in a 3-1 victory over the No. 7 Cougars in a Class 2A state baseball semifinal.

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Blazing Hot Beckman

West lyon came out and scored two in the top of the first but all it did was light a fire under Beckman. The Blazers erupted for 5 in the first, sending 10 batters to the plate.
Beckman hasn't let up. The Blazers have two runs with two on and one out in the bottom of the second, leading 7-2. West Lyon is already on its third pitcher.

Big first inning for Beckman

After falling behind 2-0, Beckman responded in a big way in the bottom of the first, scoring five runs on three hits and three West Lyon errors.

Drew Thier's two-run single made it 5-2 Blazers. Wildcats have already made a pitching change.

Over in Class 4A ...

Defending state champion Johnston beats West Des Moines Dowling 9-4 to return to the title game. Dragons will face the winner of Ames and Cedar Falls.

FINAL: UNDERWOOD 3, CASCADE 1

Cascade 000-010-0 -- 1-5-3

Underwood 101010X -- 3-6-0

Underwood with a couple nice defensive plays in the seventh for the first two outs. A 2-out walk put Menster on and bring the tying run to the plate. Vanfossan reached pitch limit on final batter, getting a groundout to end it.
Eagles reach first state championship game in school history. Cascade made its second state semifinal appearance and end this season with 25 victories.

UNDERWOOD 3, CASCADE 1, End of 6th

Nothing for the Eagles in the 6th. Vanfossan coming out for the 7th and starts the inning at 97 pitches. He can pitch to 110 and finish the batter he's facing when he hits that count.
Cascade has 9-1-2 up (Schockemoehl-Rausch-Menster). Cougars have a good part of the lineup at the plate to get something started.

UNDERWOOD 3, CASCADE 1, End of 6th

Cascade threatened, loading the bases after having a runner get out when he was hit by a batted ball. Two singles, the fielder's choice (on the hit runner) and a walked loaded them with two out. A pop out in foul territory ended it. Big opportunity that got away there.

UNDERWOOD 3, CASCADE 1, End 5th

Eagles answer with a 2-out rally of their own. Ryker Adair walked, Easton Robertson reached on an error on a soft, short grounder to third and Gus Bashore drilled an RBI single to LF to score Adair.

UNDERWOOD 2, CASCADE 1, Mid 5th

Vanfossan gets out of the inning with a strikeout. Underwood has let Cascade hang around and they chipped into the lead. Just down one. Two at-bats left.

Cougars rallying in top of 5th

Cascade gets on the board. Will Hosch drew a 1-out walk, moved to second on a ground and third on a wild pitch. Nathan Schockemoehl with an RBI single to CF. Cascade not done there. Rausch gets hit by a pitch to push tying run into scoring position and bring Underwood coaches out to mound

Cascade makes a pitching change

Cougars bring in Jackson Green to relieve Jase Reinke with two outs in the bottom of the 4th. Reinke goes 3 2/3, giving up two runs on four hits. He had two strikeouts without a walk and one hit batsman.
Green gets Boothby to flyout to CF to end the fourth.

Underwood still leads 2-0

UNDERWOOD 2, CASCADE 0, Mid 4th

Cascade retired in order again. Cougars have had a hard time figuring out Vanfossan. Good thing is Jase Reinke and the defense have kept them in the game. 

UNDERWOOD 2, CASCADE 0, End 3rd

Eagles add one to their lead thanks to Boothby again. He led off with a  single. Jack Vanfossan followed with a single. Luett's groundout move Boothby to third. He scored on Ryker Adair's base hit.
Cougars defense comes up big again, limiting the damage. Groundball to third and Ty Frasher throws to catcher Cade Rausch, who tags out Vanfossan at the plate for the second out. Strikeout ends it.

UNDERWOOD 1, CASCADE 0, Mid 3rd

Cougars go down in order in the top of the third.

UNDERWOOD 1, CASCADE 0, End 2nd

Cascade puts leadoff batter on. Bashore reaches on a dropped third strike after swinging at a wild pitch. Starter Reinke caught a pop up on a sac attempt and fielded a dribbler to the third base side of the mound and Mason Otting vacuumed up a grounder for the third out.

UNDERWOOD 1, CASCADE 0, Mid 2nd

Cascade gets one one with two out again and strand the runner. Will Hosch had the Cougars' second base hit.. 

UNDERWOOD 1, CASCADE 0, END 1st

The Eagles get on the board. Mason Boothby led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and reached third on a Vanfossan groundout. He scored when Garrett Luett reached on an error. Eagles did a nice job of manufacturing one there.
Cascade defense came up with a big 6-4-3 double play by Mason Otting-Mike Hoffman-Cooper Hummel.

CASCADE 0, UNDERWOOD 0, Mid 1st

Cougars get a 2-out single from Hummel but leave him at first. Solid first inning for the Eagles' Vanfossan.

Getting ready to start. Intros and Anthem are complete. Cascade is visitor. Underwood is home. Periodic updates to follow.

UNDERWOOD STARTING LINEUP

1. Mason Boothby CF

2. Jack Vanfossan (7-0, 0.15 ERA) P

3. Garrett Luett SS

4. Ryker Adair 3B

5. Easton Robertson LF

6. Gus Bashore RF

7. Luke Seidler 1B

8. Nick Hackett 2B

9. Lucas Bose C

CASCADE'S STARTING LINEUP

1. Cade Rausch C

2. Jack Menster RF

3. Cooper Hummel 1B

4. Ty Frasher 3B

5. Mason Otting SS

6. Cass Hoffman LF

7. Will Hosch CF

8. Mike Hoffman 2B

9. Nathan Schockemoehl DH (Hitting for Jase Reinke P - 5-2 1.64 ERA)

CLASS 2A SEMIFINAL: #7 Cascade (25-8) vs. #5 Underwood (24-3)

Cascade is making its second state baseball semifinal appearance and first since 2015. Cougars have never reached a final. Underwood is making its third state baseball appearance and earned its first quarterfinal win Tuesday, beating Williamsburg, 7-2. We'll have a first-time finalist regardless.

Thursday's state baseball schedule

Here's how to watch Thursday's games.

Class 2A semifinals (at Carroll)

No. 5 Underwood (24-3) vs. No. 7 Cascade (25-8), 4:30 p.m.

No. 3 Dyersville Beckman (23-9) vs. West Lyon (25-2), 7 p.m.

Class 4A semifinals (at Iowa City)

No. 3 Johnston (34-8) vs. No. 7 West Des Moines Dowling (27-11), 5 p.m.

Ames (30-13) vs. No. 10 Cedar Falls (28-14), 7:30 p.m.

Catch up: Wednesday's state baseball games

Here are the scores and updates from Wednesday's semifinal games.

And here are the updated brackets for all four classes.