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Davenport Assumption, as the No. 7 seed in the Iowa high school state baseball tournament, won its program's 12th championship on Friday, July 24, with a 5-3 win over Wahlert Catholic.
The Knights became the first-ever No. 7 seed in any classification to win the state title, and the first program in Iowa history to win 12 baseball titles.
“You can’t really explain it, it's awesome,” said senior Nolan Dittmer. “We worked at this for four years, and we didn’t start off great this season, but now we are finished. We came into this tournament knowing that we’re not really a seven seed.”
Cooper Sweeney helped make that history, leading the way on the mound in the victory over the Golden Eagles.
Sweeney was a shutdown pitcher in the quarterfinal win over Carlisle, going 5 ⅔ innings, allowing just one run. On Friday, he did the same, pitching five innings with seven strikeouts and five hits allowed on 82 pitches.
Because he only pitched 63 pitches on Tuesday, Sweeney was required two days of rest and was in line to start in the biggest game of his young freshman career. Sweeney held the Golden Eagles to just two hits going into the fourth inning.
More: Iowa high school state baseball tournament 2026: Scores, brackets
“He’s tough as nails,” said Assumption coach Greg Thissen. “He might be a freshman, but he didn’t look like it today. He looked like a season vet today.”
A Dittmer single in the third scored the Knights' first run of the game, and in the next at-bat, Jack DiIulio also singled, driving in two runs to make it 3-0.
Dittmer would have another RBI after a double brought in Sam Hughes. In the top of the sixth, Eli Egger doubled to score DiIulio, to make it a 5-0 Assumption lead.
Wahlert had a real scoring threat in the bottom of the sixth, with two singles from JP Elbert and Noah Krapfl, leading Sweeney’s day ending after five+ innings of work.
Bailey Alvarez, who had 34 innings of work as a pitcher this season, came in and got the first out of the inning, but then a single from Graham Ahler and two walks made the score 5-2 with one out.
“That’s one thing you're going to get from us every time is a fight,” Elbert said. “This group of guys just has that fight in them. We had that comeback walk-off against North Polk and we fought to the end, love them to death.”
More: Des Moines Register seeks fall high school sports intern
Colton Mosher replaced Alvarez after 19 pitches and got the final two outs of the frame, but not before the third walk of the inning that scored to make Wahlert's deficit just two runs, 5-3.
Mosher ended the game in the seventh, leading the Knights to yet another state crown, their first since 2018.
“Our seniors, I can’t talk about them enough,” Thissen said. “They were all big today and they all contributed today and in this programs turnaround.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Assumption takes down Wahlert Catholic for Iowa baseball state title
Continue reading...
The Knights became the first-ever No. 7 seed in any classification to win the state title, and the first program in Iowa history to win 12 baseball titles.
“You can’t really explain it, it's awesome,” said senior Nolan Dittmer. “We worked at this for four years, and we didn’t start off great this season, but now we are finished. We came into this tournament knowing that we’re not really a seven seed.”
Cooper Sweeney helped make that history, leading the way on the mound in the victory over the Golden Eagles.
Sweeney was a shutdown pitcher in the quarterfinal win over Carlisle, going 5 ⅔ innings, allowing just one run. On Friday, he did the same, pitching five innings with seven strikeouts and five hits allowed on 82 pitches.
Because he only pitched 63 pitches on Tuesday, Sweeney was required two days of rest and was in line to start in the biggest game of his young freshman career. Sweeney held the Golden Eagles to just two hits going into the fourth inning.
More: Iowa high school state baseball tournament 2026: Scores, brackets
“He’s tough as nails,” said Assumption coach Greg Thissen. “He might be a freshman, but he didn’t look like it today. He looked like a season vet today.”
A Dittmer single in the third scored the Knights' first run of the game, and in the next at-bat, Jack DiIulio also singled, driving in two runs to make it 3-0.
Dittmer would have another RBI after a double brought in Sam Hughes. In the top of the sixth, Eli Egger doubled to score DiIulio, to make it a 5-0 Assumption lead.
Wahlert had a real scoring threat in the bottom of the sixth, with two singles from JP Elbert and Noah Krapfl, leading Sweeney’s day ending after five+ innings of work.
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Bailey Alvarez, who had 34 innings of work as a pitcher this season, came in and got the first out of the inning, but then a single from Graham Ahler and two walks made the score 5-2 with one out.
“That’s one thing you're going to get from us every time is a fight,” Elbert said. “This group of guys just has that fight in them. We had that comeback walk-off against North Polk and we fought to the end, love them to death.”
More: Des Moines Register seeks fall high school sports intern
Colton Mosher replaced Alvarez after 19 pitches and got the final two outs of the frame, but not before the third walk of the inning that scored to make Wahlert's deficit just two runs, 5-3.
Mosher ended the game in the seventh, leading the Knights to yet another state crown, their first since 2018.
“Our seniors, I can’t talk about them enough,” Thissen said. “They were all big today and they all contributed today and in this programs turnaround.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Assumption takes down Wahlert Catholic for Iowa baseball state title
Continue reading...
