State baseball — St. Ansgar faces Martensdale-St. Marys in 1A title game this evening

CARROLL — St. Ansgar plays in their first state baseball championship game in the school’s history when they face Martensdale-St. Marys in the Class 1A title game this evening in Carroll.

The Saints come in with a 23-7 record after beating East Buchanan 8-5 in Wednesday night’s semifinal round, while the Blue Devils are 32-5 after coming back from an 8-2 deficit to beat Hillcrest Academy 18-8 in the other semi. Martensdale-St. Marys has made five appearances in the state title game, winning championships in 2004, 2010, 2011, and 2012 and finishing runner-up to Newman in the 2017 title game.

St. Ansgar coach Devin Schwiesow says he knows today will be a tough test for his team. “We know they have a storied history, we know they’re going to be real good. We know that White kid is going to be on the hill. It’s going to be a battle between him and Jayce. They’re both working on short rest. Boy, I’d like to go to that game and watch it, because it’s going to be a good one. We know we have to play well. When you come down here, you have to fill the zone up, you’ve got to put the ball in play, and you’ve got to make plays. We’re going to try to do that on Friday and give us a chance.”

The Blue Devils’ Travis White has 11 wins on the season, tied for the most of any pitcher in all four classes. Jayce Schwiesow will take the mound for St. Ansgar with a 7-1 record, having struck out 100. Both pitchers picked up the win in the state quarterfinal round.

You can hear live and local coverage of the St. Ansgar Saints starting at about 4:40 this afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 5 o’clock on 98.7 KISS Country and 987kisscountry.com

CARROLL — Four state baseball championships will be decided today after semifinal round action was completed on Thursday:

== Class 2A at Carroll
Unity Christian 5, Underwood 0
Pleasantville 3, Chariton 1
7:30 PM — #2 Pleasantville vs. #4 Orange City Unity Christian

== Class 3A at Sioux City
12:00 — #1 Dubuque Wahlert vs. #2 Pella

== Class 4A at Sioux City
Iowa City City High 6, Cedar Rapids Prairie 3
Bettendorf 5, Waukee Northwest 3
2:30 — #3 Iowa City City High vs. #8 Bettendorf