A historic MOC-Floyd Valley baseball season ended in the Class 3A state semifinals with a 5–1 loss to Davenport Assumption in Cedar Rapids.
The Dutch finished 26–9 after reaching the final four and earning the program’s first state tournament victory.
MOC-Floyd Valley scored in the second inning to take a 1–0 lead, but the Dutch were held without a hit. Head coach Matt McCarty said sophomore Henry Heller gave the team an opportunity from the mound.
“Really proud of how our guys competed tonight,” McCarty said. “I thought they did a really good job. I thought Henry did a really nice job on the mound. I thought he had some of his best stuff he’s had so far this year.”
Assumption eventually took advantage of infield hits, stolen bases and MOC-Floyd Valley mistakes to move in front.
“Henry had been cruising along,” McCarty said. “And then, in that fourth inning, they hit a couple balls that stayed in the infield, got on base. They stole some bases. We had two missed pickoff throws that gave them some free bases.”
The loss ended a record-setting season in which the Dutch batted .312, scored 317 runs and stole 148 bases in 154 attempts. MOC-Floyd Valley’s pitching staff finished with a 2.58 ERA, held opponents to a .192 batting average and recorded 315 strikeouts in 222⅓ innings.
Heller led the Dutch with a .451 batting average and finished with 41 hits, 44 runs and 31 RBIs. Brooks McCarty batted .363 with 41 hits, 53 runs and 33 RBIs while also going 7–3 with a 2.07 ERA and 83 strikeouts.
Kaleb Koerselman drove in a team-leading 47 runs, Thatcher Doughan batted .356 with 32 RBIs, and Cole Pottebaum scored 52 runs while going 35-for-35 on stolen-base attempts. Carter Van Gelder finished 5–1 with a 1.06 ERA.
Van Gelder, Pottebaum, McCarty, Koerselman and Thatcher Doughan made up the Dutch senior class.
“We’re one of the last four teams standing in our class,” McCarty said. “I think our kids represented Northwest Iowa really well. They represented themselves really well and the school, and couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
