Meet Carter Geffre, the Iowa baseball signee looking to lead Ames back to Iowa state tournament

Carter Geffre knew what pitch he was looking for during the first inning of the non-conference baseball game between Ames and Ballard on Tuesday night.

Geffre was facing Ballard pitcher Owen Greco. He took two pitches — a fastball and an off-speed pitch — and then took a big cut at the third.

“The first pitch, he threw a fastball that shouldn’t have been called a strike, and then he threw me an off-speed pitch,” Geffre said. “I was just sitting on fastball because he was probably going to come back with it."

Geffre crushed Greco's third pitch. The ball sailed over the fence in center field.

"I put a good swing on it and it went over the fence," Geffre said. “Hitting a home run is better than a K. It feels amazing.”

It was the fifth home run of the season already for Geffre, who signed to play Division I baseball at Iowa in November after verbally committing to the Hawkeyes as a sophomore.

“He’s a guy you can rely on," said Geffre's senior classmate Graffton Linder. "His bat has been rolling this year.”

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Geffre entered the Ballard game hitting .412 with 17 runs and 15 RBIs. His average is well above last year's .377 mark, and he already has two more home runs than he hit in all of 2023 when Ames made its surprise run in the Class 4A state championship game.

“It started off slow, but I figured some things out,” Geffre said. “Hopefully I can keep it going.”

Standing at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Geffre is an intimidating presence in the batter's box.

“It’s pretty simple — when you’re big and strong like that, and you’ve got the DNA, I think the biggest thing is making a good decision," said Ballard coach Nick Steenhagen. "When he makes good decisions and sees the ball well, good things happen.”

Geffre will play catcher at Iowa.

As a sophomore, Geffre was one of the top catchers in the state, throwing out six base runners and only making four errors. Last year he put more focus on pitching and also had health issues that limited him behind the plate.

With Aidan Nigh stepping up at catcher last season, Geffre spent more time on the mound and infield during Ames' big 2023 run.

But with Nigh graduating, and Iowa wanting him to catch, he has spent more time behind the plate in 2024. Geffre has already thrown out five base runners.

Geffre said spending more time catching while still pitching has contributed to a sore arm that has plagued him at times this season. His pitching numbers have dropped a little from 2023.

Last season, Geffre was 7-0 with a 1.18 ERA, 77 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 53 1/3 innings as one of the most dominant pitchers in the state. This year he is 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA, 54 strikeouts and 16 walks in 29 innings.

Geffre said he needs to limit his bad pitches and get more strikeouts. But Steenhagen said there is a different reason why Geffre's numbers are not as good as they were in 2023.

“He’s throwing against Johnston and (Cedar Rapids) Kennedy and the best in the state,” Steenhagen said. “I think that’s maybe why his numbers are down a little bit.”

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Geffre is still regarded as one of the most reliable pitchers in the state. Combine that with his hitting surge, big arm behind the plate, and steady fielding, and it is easy to see why Iowa offered him when he was just a sophomore.

“Everybody looks up to him,” said Ames senior pitcher Josh Grey. “When he’s up to the plate I know he’s going to hit the ball hard. I really like having him behind the plate when I’m throwing. You’ve just got confidence in him. Great hitter, great fielder and great pitcher.”

Geffre wants to be clicking on all cylinders when he gets to Iowa next fall.

“If I come off a big year here, that momentum will just go into Iowa,” Geffre said. “I’m hoping to just go in there, start and have success.”

But first, he wants one more big run with his Ames teammates.

After a 2-9 start, the Little Cyclones are now 15-14. But even though they have played much better ball over the past month, there is still a lot to work on to get where they want to be, as evident by their 14-2 loss to Ballard on Tuesday.

Geffre wants to do everything possible to get Ames peaking during the postseason to earn another trip to the 4A state baseball tournament.

“We’ll have stretches where we’re beating up on teams, and then, as you’ve seen tonight (against Ballard), we just didn’t have energy and didn’t show up to the park," Geffre said. "Keeping that energy and being consistent is the biggest thing going forward.”

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Carter Geffre is building momentum in final season with Ames baseball