Ricken and Vance, the main catcher and pitcher for the state-qualifying Bobcats, will be on the Large Schools West squad, while Koch will be on the Small Schools East squad. Koch is South Tama’s first representative in the All-Star series since Robin Chute in 2001.

Trojans head coach Seth Koch will be the head coach for the Small Schools East as well.

Ricken and Vance are the 38th and 39th Bobcats all-time to play in the weekend series.

The teams will play three times from Friday through Sunday at Duane Banks Baseball Field on the University of Iowa campus.

The Small Schools East starts things off with a game against the Large Schools East at 5 p.m. on Friday, followed by the Small and Large Schools West squads. The teams will switch opponents on Saturday for a couple of games starting at 1:30 p.m., then on Sunday the two teams with the best records and the two teams with the worst records will again face off, starting at 10:30 a.m.

Before Saturday’s games there will be an All-Star Banquet at the Marriott Hotel Banquet Center in Iowa City, where the IHSBCA Academic All-State teams will be honored.

Players on the first-team academic all-state teams from the area are Vance, Liam Stubbe from AGWSR, and Brad Barkema and Troy Dolphin from BCLUW.