Cedar Rapids Kernels Baseball

Pitching leads Kernels to sweep

What a difference 24 hours can make.

One night after his pitching staff gave up 14 runs to the visiting Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Cedar Rapids Kernels pitching coach Gary Lucas saw his staff hold the same team to a single run over 14 innings in Tuesday night’s doubleheader at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels took the first game, 3-0, and then jumped on Wisconsin starting pitcher Jorge Lopez for eight runs in the first inning of the nightcap en route to a 9-1 win and a sweep of the twinbill.

Not bad, considering neither of the starting pitchers the Kernels sent to the mound on Tuesday had started a game yet this season.

Read more...

Kernels bitten by Timber Rattlers, 14-2

After being idled by weather-related postponements for four straight days last week, playing two doubleheaders in Clinton over the weekend and facing four more games over the next three days, what Cedar Rapids Kernels Manager Jake Mauer needed on Monday night was a game where he could rest most of his pitching staff to prepare for yet another doubleheader Tuesday night.

What he got, instead, was what the Kernels skipper labeled afterward as, "a good-fashioned (butt) whipping."

The visiting Wisconsin Timber Rattlers forced Mauer to use four pitchers in a 14-2 thrashing in front of 703 fans on a chilly April night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Read more...

Hicks named Player of Week in MWL

Cedar Rapids Kernels first baseman Dalton Hicks has been named the Midwest League Player of the Week for the period April 4-14.

Hicks hit .387 (12-31) with seven doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs. He also drew five walks, scored six runs and had an .806 slugging percentage.

Hicks was selected by the Twins in the 17th round of the 2012 First Year Player Draft from the University of Central Florida and spent last season with the Elizabethton Twins.

Joseph Ross of Fort Wayne was named the MWL Pitcher of the Week for the same period.

Hicks enjoys hot start with Kernels

CLINTON - Cedar Rapids Kernels first baseman Dalton Hicks has loved hitting a baseball since he was a little kid.

"I've been playing since I was 4," he said Sunday. "I remember my mom telling me I couldn't play until I was 4, and then when I was almost 4 she said, 'Well, you have to be 4 1/2.'"

He remembers being sorely disappointed.

"On my 4th birthday, as soon as I woke up, I asked my father, 'When will I be 4 1/2?' They finally let me play."

Read more...

Kernels end layoff with clean sweep

CLINTON - What do baseball players do for four days when the weather refuses to allow them to play baseball?

The Cedar Rapids Kernels had to figure out their own answers to that question after a combination of rain and snow kept them from playing ballgames in Wisconsin against the Timber Rattlers Tuesday and Wednesday nights, as well as Thursday and Friday nights in Clinton.

But after four straight postponements, the Kernels finally got to play baseball again on Saturday and they took advantage of the opportunity by sweeping a doubleheader from the LumberKings in Clinton, 4-3 and 2-1, to raise their record to 6-1.

Read more...

Kernels postponed 4th straight day

CLINTON - Friday's scheduled doubleheader at Clinton between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and LumberKings has been postponed due to wet grounds at Clinton's Ashford University Field.

The Kernels have missed four straight scheduled playing dates due to the weather. The Kernels last played on Monday night at Wisconsin.

The Kernels are now scheduled to play play back-to-back doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Clinton.

Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Sunday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at noon. All games will be played at Ashford University Field in Clinton.

The team returns home to host Wisconsin April 15-17.

Tunnell was barrier breaker for CR club

The new Jackie Robinson biographical film “42” opens nationwide Friday. The film stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey to tell the story of the historic signing by the Brooklyn Dodgers and breaking baseball’s color barrier.

Cedar Rapids professional baseball has a similar story to share. On June 15, 1949, future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Emlen Tunnell became the first African American to appear in a minor league baseball game in Iowa - following Robinson’s signing - when he played left field for the Cedar Rapids Rockets.

Tunnell went 2-for-5 in his pro debut while breaking the Central Association’s color barrier. He played in five games over four days for Cedar Rapids gathering five hits in 18 plate appearances while playing in the outfield for the Rockets.

Read more...

Kernels postponed again

CLINTON – For the third straight day, the Cedar Rapids Kernels have had their game postponed due to weather, this time Thursday against the Clinton LumberKings at Ashford University Field in Clinton.

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader, consisting of two 7-inning games, on Friday at 5 p.m.

The Kernels return to Perfect Game Field on Monday to host the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Kernels plan extra games in Cedar Rapids

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. - Wednesday's doubleheader between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Fox Cities Stadium was postponed due to cold and wet grounds.

Because the two teams do not play each other again in Wisconsin during the first half of the Midwest League season, the games will be made up when Wisconsin comes to Cedar Rapids for a three-game series April 15-17. The exact dates and times of the makeup games have not been announced.

Minor League Baseball and the Midwest League have rules governing how many doubleheaders can be played during a seven-day period. Officials want to wait and see what happens between now and Sunday before scheduling next week's additional games.

The Kernels are scheduled to begin a four-game series in Clinton starting Thursday at 6:30 pm. They'll return to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Monday to host Wisconsin.