Prep Baseball- Every team now knows where their postseason adventure will begin, as the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the Class 3A and Class 4A Substate Brackets yesterday. Surprisingly, there will be only one Southeast Conference (SEC)showdown in the opening round, which is scheduled to start on Friday, July 10th, at 7 pm.
Class 3A Substate 3
Washington will be starting on the road with a showdown against the #2 seed, Clear Creek Amana. The Clippers hold a 12-5 record over the Demons since 2009, winning the last seven matchups. The last time Washington sunk the Clippers, they relied on defensive miscues as Clear Creek Amana erred four times by the time the game was done.
The Demons have found their footing after an 0-7 start to their season. The return of Blayze Richardson to the starting lineup catalyzed a 7-2 run for Washington, which included victories over Burlington, Fairfield, and a sweep of Mt. Pleasant.
On the flip side, Clear Creak Amana is 2-1 against the SEC this season with their one loss coming in a 6-5 final against Burlington. They have also managed to beat #2 Marion, 13-0.
The winner will face off against either Benton or Vinton-Shellsburg on Monday, July 13th.
Players to Watch: Luke Young (CCA) and Isaac Medrano (Washington)
Substate 5
In the #1-seed versus #8-seed contest, #3 Solon will take on Keokuk, who has managed to win one game. The Chiefs struggle on offense with just 65 runs through 21 games and a team batting average sitting at 0.155. Add in a team ERA of 8.89 and the Chiefs are in a bad spot heading into their game against a Trojan team that has won five games in a row at the time of writing this article.
Players to Watch: Luke Merrick (Solon) Micha Hagge (Keokuk)
Fairfield might hold the series advantage and won their last three games against Williamsburg, including a 7-6 back on June 9th, but the Trojans will have to make the voyage to Williamsburg in the #4-seed versus #5-seed matchup.
That last game saw Fairfield walk-off the Raiders, as Ethan Bisgard slashed two doubles for two RBIs in the winning effort. The game was surprisingly close considering that Fairfield had eight more hits and two less errors than Williamsburg. But the Raiders exposed a weakness of Fairfield by nabbing nine bags by the end of the game.
Fairfield will be looking to accrue some more confidence with a chance to grab their third consecutive SEC banner with two more conference showdowns to go.
Players to Watch: Carson Grier (Williamsburg) and Dain Burkhart (Fairfield)
The last of our local matchups will pit the #3-seed Burlington against the #6-seed Mt. Pleasant against one another at the Wayne Duke Baseball Field. Their most recent doubleheader saw the two split the night with the Grayhounds thundering past the Panthers 14-1 in game one, while Mt. Pleasant clung on to win game two, 14-10. The two will play a rubber match on July 7th in Burlington as a teaser for this matchup.
Mt. Pleasant is still trying to find consistency both on the mound and at the plate, while Burlington is having one of their most complete seasons, scoring 8.3 runs per game, while allowing just 3.7 runs per game. Granted, after allowing just 2.2 runs per game through the first 12 games, Burlington has watched that number more than double in the last 14 games.
The winner will take on either Assumption or Maquoketa on July 13th. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Players to Watch: Noah Krieger (Burlington) and Grayson Lowery (Mt. Pleasant)
Substate 6
Another lone wolf situation, the #8-seed Fort Madison will have to take on one of the toughest Class 3A teams in the state, the #1-seed Marion on the road. The two teams met one other time and that was back in the 2022 Substate playoffs with the Wolves burying the Bloodhounds, 12-2.
That 2022 season was the last time Fort Madison has posted a winning season, as they recently have lost 8 of their last 9 games and before that 10 of their previous 12. Their pitching has been hampered by a defense that has made 70 errors so far this season, while their offense has not helped out by hitting only 0.225 as a team with only Reece Huey batting over 0.300.
On a totally different coin, Marion has a slugging percentage north of 0.500 as a team, possesses a 0.966 fielding percentage, and touts a 2.87 team earned-run-average. Of their six losses, four have been by two runs or less. This is simply a tough team.
Players to Watch: Elijah Scott (Marion) and Owen Huffman (Fort Madison)
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Stay tuned to KILJ for updates and recaps of this year’s postseason schedule!