Davis County?s title defense comes up short

DES MOINES ? All the pieces seemed to be in place for Davis County in its quest for a second consecutive Class 2A state baseball title.

The Mustangs certainly had the right guy on the mound.

Pitcher Calvin Mathews, who entered Thursday?s postseason game having won all 15 of his starts, finally met his match, and the defending champion Mustangs fell to third-ranked North Polk 2-1 in the Class 2A state semifinals in Des Moines.

Despite Mathews throwing seven strong innings and allowing two earned runs with 12 strikeouts, North Polk?s Grant Lang threw a tad better. Davis County was held to six hits and scored its lone run in the first inning, and North Polk won with a go-ahead run in the top of the seventh.

Davis County?s Jacob Davidson went 2 for 3 with a run scored. Josey Garmon was 1 for 3 with an RBI, Park Mikels and Austin Roberts both were 1 for 2, and Josh Martsching also collected a base knock.

The Mustangs finish the season with a 42-2 record. North Polk (31-4) plays second-ranked Dyersville Beckman (37-7) in the championship game at noon Saturday. Dyersville won the other semifinal 6-3 over Carroll Kuemper.

Class 2A State Semifinals

Davis County vs. North Polk

North Polk ? 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 ? 2 7 1

Davis County ? 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ? 1 6 2

DAVIS COUNTY ? Davidson 2-3, R; J. Garmon 1-3, RBI; Mikels 1-2; Roberts 1-2; Martsching 1-3

Pitching ? Mathews (L, 15-1) 7 INN, 2R, 2ER, 7H, 12K, 0BB

NORTH POLK ? Houge 2-3; Cory 2-3; Pickard 1-3, RBI; Johnson 1-1, RBI; Smith 1-2, 2B, R; Gioffredi R

Pitching ? Lang (W, 8-1) 6 INN, R, ER, 5H, 4K, 2BB; Hadaway 1 INN, H, K