Comets look for major upset in Substate final

OSKALOOSA - After a trifecta of upsets in the Class 2A substate 6 tournament, the Cardinal baseball team will try and pull of its biggest trick yet tonight (Tuesday). The Comets, coming off a thrilling come-from-behind win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Saturday, will take on the No. 1 team in Class 2A; the Van Meter Bulldogs.

Cardinal (10-3) is the lowest seed left of the entire Class 2A tournament. The Comets came in as the No. 6 seed in District 11, and knocked off Pella Christian 2-0 and Davis County 1-0 before downing EBF 6-2 on Saturday.

The dynamic duo of Jentry Arbogast and Landon Becker have combined to give up just two earned runs on 12 hits over 21 innings in the postseason. Arbogast won't be available for Tuesday night's game after going over the 65-pitch limit against EBF, making Becker the likely starter.

Van Meter (19-2-1) flattened their first two opponents of the Substate tournament, pounding Pleasantville 15-0 in four innings and beating up Interstate 35, 15-0, in the District 12 championship. Although impressive, the Bulldogs have had a lucky draw so far, as Pleasantville and I-35 finished the year with just nine combined wins.

Coming in to Tuesday night's game, the Comets have four hitters batting .300 or over. Dawson Lewis leads the offense with a .359 average and is one of three players on the team who has multiple RBIs. Logan Chickering enters the game hitting .263 with two home runs and 13 RBIs, and Becker is hitting .311 with 10 RBIs.

Becker has had the hot hand on the mound this year for the Comets, giving up just four runs (three earned) over 23.2 innings pitched for a 0.89 ERA. Ryan Clark has a 1.69 ERA, and Arbogast sports a 2.04 ERA, as well as a team-leading 41 strikeouts.

Van Meter has a depthy offense, led by senior Brett Berg, who is hitting .400 with two home runs and 26 RBIs, all stats which lead the team. Zach Pleggenkuhle is hitting .384 with a homer and 21 RBIs, and the top eight hitters in Van Meter's offense bat .300 or over.

The Bulldogs have three pitchers with sub-1.50 ERAs. Pleggenkuhle sports a 1.01 ERA with 36 strikeouts. Berg has a 1.17 ERA with 25 strikeouts, and Anthony Potthoff has a team-best 6-0 record, a 1.46 ERA and 42 strikeouts.

Although it seems odd to call a three-loss team Class 2A's Cinderella story, Cardinal will be the biggest underdog seed-wise going into tonight's showdown, but the Comets are certainly one of the hottest teams in the Class. A win over Van Meter would be Cardinal's 10th win in a row, and it would earn them a trip to the state baseball tournament in Des Moines, which begins in less than one week.