The Aplington-Parkersburg baseball team will begin what it hopes is a week-long visit to Merchants Park in Carroll by taking on #2-seed New Hampton in a 2A quarterfinal Tuesday. The #7-seed Falcons are making their first ever appearance in the state baseball tournament.
At 18-7, the Falcons enter a wide open field with a chance to extend their season to the final day. Head Coach Brett Kleespies says the team has had the right mindset throughout the postseason.
“I told the guys, just take it in,” Kleespies says. “We’ll get there a little bit early and just make sure they take it in and realize what they’ve accomplished. It’s first time in school history that somebody’s been there for baseball at State. Just be honored of what they’ve done, but then we’ll get locked in and get ready to go. They’re there for a business trip and you can kind of tell it on their face during practice that they want three games and that’s their goal to end with three games. And so, it’s been fun to see.”
Defensively, the Falcons have held postseason opponents to just two runs while scratching runs across when the opportunity arises. Tate Neymeyer, Gabe Jacobson, Sully Janssen and Preston Janssen have bolstered the batting lineup, each getting one or more hits in each postseason game.
New Hampton (27-6), the champions of the Northeast Iowa Conference, has had hot bats throughout the postseason, scoring eight or more runs against Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, Osage and Denver in postseason play. Braden McShane bats .531, the fourth-best in Class 2A and the best in the state tournament field. Kleespies says while New Hampton is a formidable opponent, he expects his team to compete at a high level, as they have all season.
“We’ve seen a few of their guys and know what they’re capable of. They’re going to be a very good team and they’ve played quite a few games. Everybody’s coming in, we told the guys, you’re O-O right now. It starts over. Just have that mindset that they’ve had all year, just compete and play relaxed. I think that’s the biggest testament of this team, is just we haven’t had too many pregame speeches or anything trying to get them motivated. They’ve just been able to do it on their own and been relaxed and poised and go from there. So yeah, it’ll be a tough game, but it’s going to be a fun game, I think.”
The Chickasaws are making their third state tournament appearance, which have all happened since 2019.
The game will air on 99 The Wave with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m., followed by the first pitch at 7:00. The winner will advance to Thursday’s semifinal against either Sumner-Fredericksburg or Wilton.
AP coaching staff interview:
