New London’s stage is set

NEW LONDON — With the release of the 2022 Class 1A state tournament bracket, New London baseball can clearly see what they must do.

The Tigers (28-1) will take on CAM (27-2) in the opening round of the state tournament at Merchants Park in Carroll.

New London rolled through the regular season dropping just one game to 2A Anamosa after 24 straight wins.

Throughout the district and substate rounds, it was much of the same. The Tigers breezed through round one and two with wins over Southeast Iowa Super Conference foes Pekin, 6-2, and Burlington Notre Dame, 5-0.

They capped off their return to the state tournament with the thrashing of Moravia 11-1 on Tuesday.

Now is the time when the states best will be put to the test.

New London stands at the ready and is battle tested in nearly every component.

The Tigers have been one of the best from the hill this season, allowing just 116 hits (four per game) in their 29 games. That’s good enough for eighth in Class 1A.

It doesn’t stop there though, as New London is second in the state in both runs allowed (47) and earned runs allowed (29).

The plethora of New London pitchers have struck-out 186 batters and are holding opponents to a stellar batting average of .172.

New London can throw about anyone on the mound and they’ll be in good hands.

Kooper Schulte, the Tigers shortstop and closer, has been one of the best in the state. He’s given up just three hits this season. Schulte is one of two Class 1A pitchers with a zero ERA. He has 29 strikeouts on 45 batters faced.

The Tiger’s Dereck Santiago has been spectacular as well, giving up just 20 hits in 163 batters. He sits at an 0.47 ERA. He’s given up just four runs all season and has struck out 66.

That’s just the tip of iceberg when it comes to Tiger pitching.

Sole lefty, Seth Bailey paced the Tigers in their substate final victory. He has been dominant all year long, currently holding a 0.74 ERA against the 158 faced batters.

Brenden Richey (1.93), Carter Allen (2.17) and Josh Catala (2.28) have all started on the hill for the Tigers as well.

At the plate, New London has been fantastic as well. Five Tigers are batting .350 or above.

Schulte leads with a .462 average, following by Santiago with a .419. Catcher Tucker Gibbar has a .413 average at the plate, Josh Catala bats .397 and Camden Kasel .350.

Ryan Richey holds an average of .342, Carter Allen swings it at an average of .314 and Bailey bats .270.

CAM’s road to the tournament was relatively similar to New London.

The Cougars crushed Bedford 14-1 in the opening regional round. In round two, CAM found itself down to Lenox 4-0, but scored seven straight to win it. Against Lamoni, the Cougars were winners 7-3. In the substate final, much like the Tigers, they were winners 11-1.

For CAM, Lane Spieker is the top dog. He leads the Cougars from the plate and the hill.

On the mound, Spieker has faced 175 opponents and allowed just 15 hits on 85 strikeouts. He holds and ERA of 0.64 in 11 games pitched.

At the plate, Spieker bats a mind boggling .539 and leads the class in home runs with 13.

Cade Ticknor has also thrown 11 games for CAM. He sits at an ERA of 1.99. Ticknor has faced 172 batters and has struck out 59.

Two other Cougars are averaging over .400 from the plate along with Spieker.

Colby Rich has an average of .424 and Ethan Follmann .404.

Monday’s game with begin at 4:30 p.m. and the winner will play on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against either No. 2 seeded Newman Catholic or No. 7 seeded Lisbon.