As the preseason ends and the new season begins, the City High varsity baseball team is gearing up with veteran seniors, new focus, and their sights set on a championship run.
The Little Hawks season opener was rained out in the 3rd inning against Dubuque Senior. The Little Hawks led 2-1 before the rains came in.
According to IA Baseball, the Little Hawks are ranked preseason number one in the state in 4A.
The Little Hawks are returning just about their entire starting pitching rotation from last season. This is a staff with pitchers such as Talon Young ‘25 who posted a 1.85 ERA last season.
“I love going out and competing and really showing what we can do as a team,” Young said.
Young is looking to do what teams before him have not been able to do: win a state championship. Young has been suiting up for the Little Hawks since he was a freshman.
“We have a winning culture at City High, and I’m confident that we’ll bring home a state championship,” Young said.
Owen Hicks was also a vital player on last year’s team, starting at shortstop and had a 1.58 ERA on the mound. He believes that “with this team we have a great shot at winning it all.”
Another leading pitcher on the Little Hawk team is Jaxton Schroeder. Last season, Jaxton Schroeder ‘25 was named first team all-state, and is in the running for the Mr. IA Baseball. Schroeder led City High in batting average (.379), hits (39), runs (29), doubles (11) home runs (2), extra-base hits (16), walks (26), stolen bases (35), on-base percentage (.508) and slugging percentage (.602) his junior season.
“We have high expectations. Coming into the season as preseason #1 we’re going to have a target on our back, but that’s where we want to be, and we’ve worked to be able to compete with anyone in the state,” Schroeder said.
“I think our expectations are really high, and I think that comes from the preparation over not just this year, but the last few years,” Head Coach Brian Mitchell said.
The Little Hawks finished last season with a record of 34-8 and fell short of a state championship to Dowling in the semi-finals.
City High has a veteran coaching staff with head coach Brian Mitchell, assistant coaches Kurt Vitense, Tom Banta, and DJ Heck all having played Division 1 baseball at the University of Iowa. This is a coaching staff who has lots of experience playing baseball at multiple different levels and has without a doubt played a huge role in the success of the Little Hawks.
“This is a group of seniors, who have lots of baseball IQ and experience and know what it takes to play baseball at a high level,” Mitchell said.
