Chris Cuellar

ccuellar@dmreg.com

Iowa’s high school summer baseball season is short enough for teams and local fans.

Starting on Friday night for Classes 3A and 4A, it could be over in just a few innings.

The large schools are scheduled to begin their district and substate runs to Des Moines and Principal Park following the already-underway postseason in 1A and 2A. The one-and-done nature of prep playoffs makes every visit to the mound a must-win.

“It’s always the goal to get hot around July 1,” West Des Moines Valley coach Ryan Cooley said. “If you’re not, it’s going to be a short season.”

It’s time to Take Five with playoff storylines before we get run-ruled.

Playoff pitch counts

There’s no perfect time or plan for teams to use their top pitchers. A deep run usually requires a deep staff, as 3A and 4A are slated to play Friday, Monday and Wednesday.

Usual Iowa High School Athletic Association limitations apply: a maximum of 16 innings in a week and nine innings in two days. Which means third-ranked Saydel can’t ride 11-0 ace Rece Martin for all of 3A districts and substate, and second-ranked Iowa City West can’t let Nate Barnes (9-0) pitch all the way to the 4A tourney.

A handful of other arms likely throwing Friday are 7-0, including Valley senior Calvin Stalzer. He’s paced an improving group with senior Peyton Long and juniors Will Rodruck and Sam Rogers.

“We’ll put our best arm out there each game, and hopefully our best is good enough to beat everybody,” Cooley said.

“Calvin has been solid since Day 1. If he’s throwing three pitches that are strikes, he’s pretty much unbeatable. If he’s got two we’re going to be competitive. If only one is hitting, I still know I’m going to get a tough kid on the mound that’s going to give us a chance to win.”

Most teams won’t be able to wait to use their aces, which sets up tricky situations like in 3A Substate 4. Top-ranked Davenport Assumption could be set up against Central DeWitt and star T.J. Sikkema in a district final, where his 6-0 record and 0.31 ERA might decide matters.

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The stacked substates

It’s rare for coaches to say their teams got easy brackets, but the most difficult IHSAA substate draws stand out on their own.

Class 3A Substate 5 has a herd of familiar eastern Iowa clubs — Fairfield, Mount Pleasant, Mount Vernon, Solon and others — all above or hovering around .500. And 3A-7 is likely to bounce a quality contender as Saydel, Bondurant-Farrar and Carlisle all have at least 25 victories.

Class 4A Substate 8 has three ranked teams fighting for one spot: No. 5 Lewis Central, No. 8 Waukee and No. 10 Valley. Iowa City West is dropped into Mississippi Athletic Conference competition in 4A-5, and Norwalk has to join the CIML fray in 4A-6. Second-round byes could make the brackets tricky as well.

Which champs could be back?

Southeast Polk is hanging around yet again.

The back-to-back champions of 4A have played mind-bogglingly good defense since June 1, but the third-ranked Rams (32-8) have to survive a substate with familiar foes and teams that have played them close.

Waverly-Shell Rock (23-10) got off to an inconsistent start in 3A but could return to Des Moines by playing in a substate where it has seen (and beaten) almost all of the teams.

Clear Lake (2A) and Mason City Newman (1A) are still comfortably alive in their district runs.

Regardless of how it plays out on the road to Principal Park, let’s hope for closer championship games after three of the four in 2015 ended via the mercy rule.

Potential underdogs

Last week’s forfeits looked like trouble to everyone except Des Moines Lincoln.

Coach Eddie Mauro’s club was 5-27 after 11 regular-season wins were turned into losses overnight but has been on a tear since, sweeping rival East and previous No. 1 Johnston, and splitting against substate opponents Roosevelt and Ankeny Centennial. Seniors Zac Edwards and Hunter Lee have led the charge at the plate and on the mound.

“It doesn’t change much of what we’ve done,” Mauro said of the forfeits last week. “We’re looking forward to playing the rest of our games and trying to make a good tournament run.”

Some more large-school teams that might still be under the radar: Iowa City High, Cedar Rapids Xavier and MOC-Floyd Valley.

The Little Hawks (18-21) have had a teeter-totter season, but they can go up in a hurry, as evidenced by an eight-game win streak in June and a July 9 shutout of Southeast Polk.

Xavier (12-22-1) has finally found its groove, winning nine of its last 11 while lighting up the scoreboard. And MOC-FV (21-11) has come on as a late contender, winning 12 of 13 with starring roles for Ben De Boer and Drew Nielsen. Eight of the Dutchmen’s losses have been by one or two runs.

Wacky things can happen in a one-off

There’s a reason higher levels of baseball decide playoff wins with series or double-elimination tournaments. Heck, the one-and-done drama MLB has implemented is a “wild card.”

Wacky and weird stuff can happen in one seven-inning game, and plenty will before teams get to sniff Principal Park.

So, hold on tight and try to enjoy the IHSAA’s only sanctioned summertime sport. The state tournament is only a few innings away.