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Iowa High School State

Baseball Tournament

At Principal Park, Des Moines

CLASS 4A

Wednesday, July 29

No. 1 Sioux City North (33-7) vs. No. 8 Marshalltown (26-15), Noon

No. 4 Dowling Catholic (26-11) vs. No. 5 Fort Dodge (28-12), 2 p.m.

No. 3 Davenport Central (22-7) vs. No. 6 Johnston (28-13), 6 p.m.

No. 2 Cedar Rapids Washington (32-8) vs. No. 7 Iowa City West (28-15), 8 p.m.

Semifinals

Friday, July 31

Sioux City North/Marshalltown winner vs. Dowling Catholic/Fort Dodge winner, 6 p.m.

Davenport Central/Johnston winner vs. Cedar Rapids Washington/Iowa City West winner, 8 p.m.

Final

Saturday, August 1

Semifinal winners, 8 p.m.

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Sioux City North is getting the rematch that it would have done anything to play last July. The opponent, however, is the least of the Stars' concern.

The North Stars are back in the Iowa High School State Baseball Tournament as the top-ranked and top-seeded squad in the Class 4A bracket, eager to prove their legitimacy as a contender amongst the best programs in the state - regardless of first-round foe.

"I don't know whether it mattered that it is Marshalltown or somebody else," said fourth-year North coach Brian Drent. "We just want to go down and represent the ballclub that we are. The fact that it's Marshalltown, I don't know that there's any extra incentive for us. And that's no disrespect to them, but we just want to get down there and show what we can do no matter who we're playing.

"I think every player that was down there last year felt the disappointment and certainly had aspirations of getting back to the state tournament and win some games. We ran into a great pitcher and in single-elimination baseball anything can happen. We got beat so I think all the guys wanted to get the opportunity to come down and prove themselves."

Marshalltown ended the Stars' 2008 campaign in last year's state quarterfinal, 2-0, in a battle between highly touted pitchers with contrasting styles. Both top-tier hurlers are back for their senior seasons, but one of them may not even toe the rubber when the same two clubs reunite in Wednesday's opening 4A quarterfinal at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Stanford University-bound North fireballer Dean McArdle (5-1) missed more than a month because of a first-degree ligament strain in his right (pitching) elbow before returning in time to toss a one-hit shutout in the Stars' 11-0, five-inning rout of Sioux City West in last week's substate finals.

Drent said McArdle's status for Wednesday's noon quarterfinal is and will remain a game-time decision.

"He's not 100 percent, I would love to tell you that he's perfectly healthy but that's just not the case," said Drent. "We certainly hope he's able to go for us. We were still a competitive team without him, certainly we missed him and it taxed the rest of the pitching staff, but we beat Sioux City East without him and they were ranked number one at the time."

Drent said that junior Eric McGlauflin, who sports an 8-0 record, would get the start against Marshalltown (26-15) in McArdle's sted. The Stars (33-7) went 15-4 without McArdle after losing him during a 13-1 loss to Des Moines East on June 20.

"We may have two guys warming up in the bullpen before the game," he said. "We'll have to watch him throw. Ultimately his long-term success is more important than what we do at state, but we have a ton of confidence in the guys behind him, I like our guys, we went a month without him and were still really good.

"I don't think our goals change if he never pitches for us again."

Jimmy Six (11-3) will be back on the mound at Principal Park for Marshalltown's second straight state tournament appearance, facing a Sioux City North lineup he saw parts of last year. The Stars return five starters from a team that Six baffled with breaking balls during last year's first-round pitchers' duel.

"What are the odds?" posed Marshalltown head coach Steve Hanson. "You roll the dice out there 500 times and I don't know if it comes up that way again.

"We're happy to have whomever and we have some familiarity with Sioux City North, so that's a good thing I think."

"I guess it's interesting that both starting pitchers are back," Hanson added. "We like ours, we like the matchup, now we just have to go compete and try to execute a plan to put us in a position to win."

The Stars' lightning-rod offense has struck even more this season than last. North took a 9.2 run-per-game average into last year's shutout loss to the Bobcats, while this year's contingent is just shy of 10 runs per outing (9.825).

"We know that since we beat them that they're going to want it," said Six, who struck out eight in last year's meeting. "We just have to want it more, and I think we all do. I think we'll come out playing hard and they will too."

North's offensive firepower starts with junior shortstop Damek Tomscha, who brings a .465 batting average into the state tournament. He leads the Stars in nearly every major offensive category, having totaled 14 doubles, six triples, 11 home runs, 46 runs scored and 48 RBIs.

Nick Tillo, who amassed 80 RBIs last year, saw his total production drop but still bats at a .415 clip. McGlauflin bats .396, while senior catcher Chad Piersma is hitting .385 and will play baseball at Dartmouth.

Thirteen of North's wins were shortened via the 10- or 15-run rule this summer, including both substate triumphs.

"You re-learn and then you remember some stuff from last year," Six said of scouting North's lineup. "You've got to go back and forth with that because you've got to know what you did with the hitters and consider whatever gameplan you had last year because we came out with a win."

Marshalltown scratched out two runs on five hits against McArdle, who has a 36-8 career record. His fastball is said to have eclipsed 92 miles-per-hour.

"We just can't let McArdle beat us, we can't be scared of him," said MHS senior left-handed pitcher Jordan Alley, who is 7-0. "He's going to throw strikes, we just have to swing the bat and good things will happen. Other than that we just have to have fun. If we have fun I think we're one of the best teams in the state for sure."

Sioux City North shares five common opponents with the Bobcats, including three teams from the CIML Iowa Conference. The Stars beat Mason City, Fort Dodge and Valley in addition to Des Moines Hoover, while falling to Ottumwa during McArdle's absence. Marshalltown went 7-10 against those shared foes.

"The 'surprise-you' factor may be gone from a year ago," said Hanson, who earned his 400th career coaching victory in the Bobcats' split with Valley on June 11. "I hate to speak for (North) but a year ago we were 25-12, a pretty modest-looking team that happened to be playing real well right then and had a really good core and Jimmy coming into his own at that time.

"So you could have looked at us a year ago and said 'ho-hum, maybe they're not so good,' and I don't know that (North) took that approach - probably not because they had McArdle on the mound - so there was maybe a shade of that a year ago but we beat them."

"On paper I guess we are (the underdog)," Hanson added, "but we don't mind our position."

The winner will face either No. 5 Fort Dodge (28-12) or No. 10 Dowling Catholic (26-11) in Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal, and the 4A title game is Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Johnston completed a perfect 40-0 summer with a 6-2 victory over the Bobcats in last year's title game. That stands as Six's only postseason loss - he's 6-1 - to date.

Marshalltown, Sioux City North and defending state champion Johnston are the only three returning qualifiers from last year's field of eight.

"As I saw this thing kind of playing out I really liked Marshalltown's chance in that substate," Drent said. "I liked Mason City too, but with Six and it sounds like Jordan Alley is a good pitcher, the tournament is set up for teams with good pitching to do well.

"I don't know a ton about their team. The four guys that were in the lineup last year we know something about them, but there's a bunch of other guys and it's probably a similar story as to what Coach Hanson has on our team."

Marshalltown returns six starters to its batting order from last year's first-round victory over North, starting at the top of the lineup with Nick Thimesch. The junior center fielder is hitting .388 and leads all 4A state qualifiers with 26 stolen bases.

Senior catcher T.J. Flanagan is batting .422 with 13 doubles, five homers and 41 RBIs, while junior third baseman Jarred Carlson is hitting .341 with team-highs of 15 doubles, seven homers and 47 RBIs.

Carlson batted 5-for-10 with a triple, two runs scored and five RBIs in Marshalltown's run to the state runner-up trophy last summer, and so far he is 4-for-9 this postseason with a double, homer and six RBIs.

Senior left fielder Allen Mann is 5-for-10 so far this postseason with two doubles and a home run, while junior right fielder Cole Grewell (.341) had a hit in all three substate wins as well.