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If there wasn’t enough pressure on Lyle-Pacelli freshman Grady Meyer in his first playoff pitching start, he also had to worry about impressing his older brother Landon Meyer, a Division II Upper Iowa commit, and his coach and dad Brock Meyer.

Grady was able to shake off all of those worries as he gave LP three solid innings and a key two-run double as the top-seeded Athletics beat No. 8 Wabasha-Kellogg (7-12 overall) 9-1 in a Section 1A Tournament game at Seltz Field Saturday.

The Falcons got to Grady early on as Garrett Pavelka doubled and scored on a single by Will Killeen to start the first, but Grady retired the next eight hitters in a row. LP led 4-1 in the top of the third inning when WK loaded the bases with one out, but Grady escaped that jam by striking out back-to-back hitters.

“I knew we could come back,” Grady said. “I trusted my team, and I came back and threw strikes. It’s really nice to have (my dad and brother out here), but we’ve got to be competitive all the time. When I’m down, I’m talking to my teammates and I trust them.”

After the third inning, Creighton commit and LP ace Hunter VaDeer came in and gave the Falcons a heavy dose of fast balls, striking out nine in three innings.

“When Grady got out of that jam, and we had that lead, I knew they would have trouble keeping up with Hunter,” Brock said. 

After Grady doubled in two runs to put LP up 3-2 in the second, Logyn Brooks delivered a pair of clutch hits for the Athletics. Brooks knocked in a run with a two out single in the second and he singled in two runs to make it 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Landon came in and pitched the final inning for the Athletics and he struck out three without allowing a run. The first baseman, who has pitched in fill-in duty this season, is always ready to come in and throw strikes.

He’s also ready to serve as a leader to his younger brother.

“(Grady’s) a freshman and he’s competing like a senior or a junior,” Landon said. “He does everything well. I’m always hard on him, but that’s for a good reason, because he’s a really good player and he’s got a lot of potential in this game.”

Brock has been coaching LP for 13 seasons and this is the first time he’s seen both of his sons pitch in a single playoff game. The moment wasn’t planned, but Brock did acknowledge that is one he’ll remember.

“I didn’t even realize that (Grady started and Landon finished),” Brock said. “But it’s always special when you have kids on the team and it was a proud dad moment, for sure. I had full confidence in Grady today, and it took guts for him to do what he did today. He hasn’t had a ton of experience in the playoffs, but as long as he throws strikes, he’s got good stuff.”

LP (19-2 overall) will play No. 4 seeded Hayfield in a Section 1A quarterfinal in Riverland at 4 p.m. Monday.

WK 1 0 0  0 0 0  0  –  1  5 2

LP 0 4 0  4 1 0  x  –  9 16 1

LP pitching: Grady Meyer (W) 3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 5 K; Hunter VaDeer, 3 IP, 2 BBs, 0 R, 9 K; Landon Meyer, 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K

LP hitting: Grady Meyer, 1-for-4, double, 2 RBIs, R; Landon Meyer, 2-for-3, BB, R; VaDeer, 2-for-2, BB, RBI, R; Logyn Brooks, 3-for-4, 3 RBIs, R; Dawson Jenkins, 0-for-4; Isaac Small, 2-for-4, 2 R; Hunter Wollenburg, 4-for-4, triple, RBI, R; Case Koopal, 1-for-2, RBI; Banning Korfhage, 1-for-3, 2 R, BB