The class 4A quarterfinal round of the state baseball tournament wrapped up in Marshalltown Thursday night.Drew Mettile snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo homer to left as defending champion Urbandale advanced with a 2-0 victory over Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The J-hawks added another run in the sixth and that was more than enough for senior lefthander Brandon Rinnon who tossed a four hitter to earn his tenth victory over the season. Urbandale takes a 24-18 mark into tonight’s semifinal round. Cedar Rapids Kennedy bows out with a mark of 29-13. the second most victories in school history. Also in Class 4A, Jeff Clement hit a two run homer, the 59th of his career, as third ranked Marshalltown downed Newton 6-1. The Bobcats now look forward to tonight’s semifinal round game against Urbandale, a rematch of last year’s title game.It was Newton’s first trip to the tournament since 1969 and coach Jim Marter says it is a big step in their rebuilding process.The class 3A quarterfinals wrapped up in Carroll. West Delaware downed Knoxville 5-0. The game was scoreless until West Delaware got on the board in the sixth inning. Coach Mike Morrison said he was a little worried they weren’t able to push a run across until late.In the other evening quarterfinal, Mount Pleasant jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first inning and went on to a 7-4 win over Carroll Keumper. Brad Salmons hit a two run homer in the top of the fifth inning to help keep the Panthers on top.Mount Pleasant coach Mike Henderson says it was a good start to the tournament.Henderson’s teams committed some errors late, but he says they were able to overcome them with their bats.
