The Aplington-Parkersburg baseball team will look to punch its ticket to its first ever state tournament appearance in Tuesday’s substate final against Roland-Story. The game will be held at Marshalltown and will air on 99 The Wave.
Head Coach Brett Kleespies says the Norsemen have several underclassman contributors, but has found their way to the substate game for a reason.
“Very young team, I think they start four or five freshmen and an eighth-grader,” Kleespies says. “Historically a very good ball club. Haven’t faced them, seen a little video on them. They like to play small ball, so we’re going to have to cover bunts, field bunts well, and limit mistakes that way. Throwing their ace and throwing our ace on Saturday, we’re both in the same situation where we’ll both go with our number two guys.”
Roland-Story (16-17) used ace pitcher Brett Schmitz in their 4-1 district final win over Dike-New Hartford Saturday. Junior William Zamzow bats .366 to lead the team.
The Falcons (17-7) are coming off possibly the biggest upset of the season in Iowa High School Baseball when they knocked off #1 (2A) West Marshall 5-0. Kleespies says the Falcons have played clean defensively, and he’s confident they can handle the upcoming challenge.
“Hopefully we can overcome the nerves. There’s a lot on the line, and the boys know that. Being able to watch the guys the last couple games, seeing their poise, being relaxed, and not being too uptight. The biggest thing Coach Hoff and I have stressed this year is having fun, enjoy playing baseball. They’ve earned it, they deserve it, they’ve gotten this far with how they’ve played. Just keep doing what we’re doing, limit mistakes, body language, play our game, worry about us, and the rest will take care of itself hopefully.”
AP’s keys to success have been playing error-free and capitalizing with runners in scoring position.
The game will start at 7:00 p.m.
Brett Kleespies interview:
