1A, 2A baseball pairings determined

Area small schools learned their postseason fates earlier this week, with one team notching a top seed.

In Class 1A, the Highland baseball team will have home field advantage as they look to navigate the District 10 field.

Highland will open its postseason on Tuesday, July 12, when they host HTC at 7 p.m.

The two teams met on June 2, with Highland claiming a 13-5 victory.

If Highland advances, the team will take on the winner of Lone Tree and Winfield-Mt. Union on Thursday on July 14.

The district final will be held at Highland, with New London the top seed on the other half of the bracket.

Highland won their one game against New London earlier this year with a 4-3 walk-off victory.

The Huskies will look to their strong pitching and speed to push them to the district final, with Spencer Wieland among the tops in the state with 41 stolen bases (second in the state), to go with his .455 average and .556 on-base percentage.

Meanwhile, Chase Rath is batting .377, has a team-high 27 RBIs (to go with 20 stolen bases, third on the team), but may be doing his most impressive work on the mound.

Rath currently sports a sterling 0.74 ERA with 78 strikeouts through 47 innings pitched as Highland?s ace.

Joining Highland in the District 10 bracket is Keota (8-9), who will open their postseason against Burlington Notre Dame in New London.

A win against the Nikes would pit the Eagles against the winner of New London and Danville.

The Eagles have been led by one of the top hitters in the state in Tyler Verstaete, who is batting .511, and is tied for the team lead with 15 RBIs.

On the mound, Keota?s Zach Mousel has been the team?s ace, tossing 53 innings, recording a 1.72 ERA with 39 strikeouts, leading to a 5-3 record.

If either the Eagles or Huskies win the district, they will advance to face the winner of District 9 in the sub-state game. District 9 features North Linn and Lisbon as the top-seeded teams. Sub-state will be held at Solon.

Iowa Mennonite also resides in District 9, where they will travel to HLV to face off against Iowa Valley in the first round.

IMS (6-11) is led offensively by Drake Brezina?s .373 average and .456 on-base percentage, while also driving in a team-best 19 RBIs.

On the mound, Caleb Yoder leads the team with a 2.15 ERA in 13 innings pitched

If IMS advances, they would take on North Linn.

In Class 2A, both area teams reside in the same bracket, with Mid-Prairie and Columbus both playing in first-round games on July 9 in Louisa-Muscatine.

The Golden Hawks (11-13) will take on conference foe West Liberty in the first game, and Mid-Prairie already has a pair of wins over the Comets.

Early in the season, Mid-Prairie claimed a doubleheader sweep (14-1, 19-12) on the road over West Liberty, which should give them confidence they will be able to move on to face top-seeded Wilton in the second round.

Mid-Prairie is led by Keaton Duwa?s .325 average, while Karson Gingerich is getting on base at a team-best clip of .482.

On the mound, Brad Tornow has thrown 30 innings of 1.63 ERA ball, striking out 25, while senior Adam Schrock has struck out 40 over 38 1/3 innings.

Columbus, who picked up their first win of the season earlier this week over HTC, will take on Louisa-Muscatine.

The winner of that game will take on Regina in the second round.

The Wildcats are led by Eric Reese?s .342 average and .444 on-base percentage.