National Highlight Reel: Iowa baseball win streak reaches 75 games

Though the national record for consecutive baseball victories was just set in the spring, it could be eclipsed this summer by Martensdale-St. Mary's (Martensdale, Iowa).

With doubleheader victories on Thursday and Friday, the Blue Devils now have won 75 consecutive games over the past two years. That ties them with Homer (Mich.) for No. 2 all-time. They have five regular-season games left, then a possible seven more if they win their second consecutive Class 1A state title.

The record they are shooting at is 83 by Portsmouth (N.H.), which could add to its own streak next spring.

"To win this many games in a row is pretty shocking," fourth-year head coach Justin Dehmer conceded. "We only have two seniors. It seems like we're young, but we have four who started out as eighth graders. We have a lot of hits and experience."

Last year's 43-0 state champs won seven one-run games. The closest victory this year was 4-2 and the Blue Devils have crushed their first 32 foes by a margin of 331-37.

Though the Blue Devils play in Iowa's smallest classification, they have beaten 2A teams 30 times, 3A teams nine times and a 4A team once for 40 of their 75 victories in the current streak. Thirty-six of the wins have been shutouts.

Martensdale-St. Marys has a rich baseball tradition, but when Dehmer took over he inherited the remnants of an 8-23 team.

"I started a lot of eighth graders and freshmen and didn't have a lot of upperclassmen," he said of his first year.

However, he posted a respectable 19-12 record that year. The record improved to 25-11, then 43-0 last year.
The Blue Devils are pitcher-rich. For example, they lead the state with 261 strikeouts and have walked only 50.

"We have five legitimate starters who can go against anybody and give us a chance to win," Dehmer noted. "We have five other backups."

Senior Ethan Westphal has posted an 8-0 record with a 0.47 ERA. In 45 innings, he has struck out 77 and walked just seven. A 5-foot-11 second baseman when not pitching, he also is batting .457 with 13 doubles and he has driven in 42 runs on just 43 hits. He also has struck out just four times.

The other senior, 6-foot, 200-pound third baseman Dillon Coates, is batting .494 with seven home runs, 13 doubles and 43 runs. He has driven in 39 runs on 44 hits. He also has walked 16 times and stolen 16 bases.

The team's top prospect, however, may be junior J.D. Nielsen, a 6-5, 185-pound left-hander who pitches and plays first base. A transfer from nearby Winterset (Iowa), he is 7-0 on the mound with 53 strikeouts and nine walks in 37 innings. His ERA is 0.76 and he has allowed only 17 hits. He fanned 15 in a game last week. At the plate he is batting .384 with nine home runs and 48 RBIs.

Westphal transferred as a junior and Coates as a sophomore.

"Our name's out there and they want to be a part of that," Dehmer said of the criticism his school sometimes attracts. "It's just a product of what we are about. Success breeds success."

Though the winning streak brings extra pressure, Dehmer expects to keep piling up victories in the future. Only two seniors will graduate and his JV team, which has tasted defeat just four times during his tenure, currently is 17-0-1.

* Alonso (Tampa, Fla.) senior pitcher Jose Fernandez has been named Florida's Mr. Baseball after leading the Ravens to the Class 6A state title. He posted a 13-1 record with 134 strikeouts and a 1.35 ERA. He also batted .409 with nine home runs and was the 14th pick in the Major League Draft by the Florida Marlins.

Three years earlier Jose and his mother fled Cuba, but their boat was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard 10 miles from Miami and returned to their homeland, according to the Tampa Tribune. Labeled a traitor, Fernandez spent 15 days in an open-air prison cell. He finally did make it to the USA, however, and his future is bright.

* Former Major League pitcher David "Boomer" Wells has agreed to serve as a part-time pitching coach for his alma mater, Point Loma (San Diego, Calif.). He will be working on David Wells Field, in fact. During his senior year (1982), he threw nine shutouts – six in a row.

* Owasso (Okla.) pitcher Dylan Bundy signed a letter of intent last week to play baseball at Eastern Oklahoma State College. Earlier this year he has signed with the University of Texas. Both are hedges against his family's request that the Baltimore Orioles (who made him the No. 4 draft pick) give him a $30 million, five-year Major League contract, according to the Tulsa World.

* Neshannock (New Castle, Pa.) shortstop John Sansone, who led the WPIAL with a .661 batting average as a junior, has made a commitment to Florida State University, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.