Tigers fall in substate final

OSCEOLA — No. 7-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys rode the sparkling pitching of junior Travis White and a three-run inning to oust Lenox, 4-0, in the Class 1A Substate final Tuesday night at Clarke Community High School.

The Blue Devils (30-5) will make their 18th trip to the state tournament, but first since 2020 in Monday’s quarterfinal game against Lansing Kee at 1:30 p.m. at Carroll. The Blue Devils are seeded fourth in the tourney field and Kee is fifth.

Lenox, which finished third in the Pride of Iowa behind Martensdale-St. Marys and Mount Ayr, avenged prior losses to Mount Ayr in winning the district title on Saturday. The Tigers ended their season at 20-10, the program’s third straight season of 20 or more wins under coach Trevor Luther, and fourth in five years.

It was the final game for six Lenox seniors — Gabe Funk, Brody Brokaw, Rydder Hogan, JJ Martin-England, Caleb Menefee and Daysen Gregg. In their time since eighth graders, Lenox has won 96 games in five seasons.

“They really set the standard,” Luther said. “It’s a tough class to see go, but we also have some returning players returning that we’re excited about.”

The Tiger offense managed four hits against White on Tuesday, one single each by Laramie Stoaks, Funk, Hogan and Brokaw. White fanned 13 batters and walked two in a complete game with 94 pitches.

Stoaks, the junior lefthander who reached the 110-pitch limit in the 9-7 win over Mount Ayr, was unavailable for Tuesday’s substate game under the state’s guidelines. Caleb Menefee got the start for the Tigers, relieved by Dawson Evans in the fifth. Martensdale-St. Marys finished with six hits, all singles.

“They kind of bunched their hits together to score runs, and ours were a little more spread out,” Luther said. “Calen and Dawson pitched outstanding. We had runners in scoring position twice, but couldn’t finish it. That was the first game we were shut out all year. White has good stuff. He throws 80 to 84 miles an hour consistently, with good off-speed stuff. We don’t see pitchers like that throughout the season, and it’s hard to simulate in practice. We had some hard hits right at people. Dawson hit a coupe of shots to the third baseman. That’s baseball sometimes.”

Evans, a junior, batted .505 this season and finished with 49 RBIs, which is tied for sixth in Class 1A going into state tournament play. With one season left, he already has set the school’s career doubles record with 35. He hit five of the team’s 10 home runs this season.

Funk finished his senior season with 56 stolen bases in 56 attempts, never having been picked off. He batted .427. Stoaks batted .400 with a 5-1 pitching record and 74 strikeouts. Stoaks and Evans combined for 56 stolen bases.

Lenox pitching: Caleb Menefee 1K 4BB, Dawson Evans (5) 2K 1BB. MtSM pitching: Travis White 13K 2BB. W — White. L— Menefee. 2B — M: Trey Wight, White, Gavin Frantum. RBI — M: Cale Morrow 2, White 1. Multiple hitters — None.