GRANGER — The Des Moines Christian and Woodward-Granger baseball teams are quite familiar with each other, as the two have regularly battled to be among the top teams in the WCAC.
While that familiarity has led to respect, it has not generated an abundance of brotherly love, and W-G will have a shot at avenging a regular season sweep when the two rivals meet at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Class 2A District 12 Final.
DMC (26-8, 17-5) defeated W-G (23-7, 16-6), 2-1, in the first game of a June 27 doubleheader, with the host Lions a 10-5 winner in the nightcap.
Senior ace Brett Shelton (9-1, 0.6 ERA) escaped with the win in the opener, topping Hawk junior Brandon Worley (5-2, 2.21 ERA). W-G rallied from a 5-0 hole to tie the second game, only to see the hosts pull away. The Hawks used five pitchers in the game.
That sets up an expected duel between W-G junior Alex Bice (5-1, 1.6 ERA) and DMC junior Kole Bradley (6-1, 1.88 ERA). Neither have thrown against the opponent.
Bradley has struck out 78, walked 31 and allows foes to hit just .134 in 37-1/3 innings of work, with Bice holding the opposition to a .153 average in 39-1/3 frames. He has fanned 45 and walked 17 and has head coach Eric Evans’ full confidence.
“He doesn’t get rattled and just goes out there and does his job,” Evans said. “If we play good defense behind him we are going to have our chances, and that is all you can ask for.”
W-G roared to an 11-0 start, then went 6-7, with five of those losses coming by one run each. The Hawks have since rattled off six wins in a row, and Evans said he is proud of how his squad had responded.
“We didn’t really change anything, we just kept on playing our game and we straightened it out,” he said. “We have always been aggressive and will continue to play that way, to try and force the other guy to make the big play.”
Evans said he had great respect for the Lions, who he called “a very talented team” and said the Hawks “are going to have to play at our best to get the win, but the guys already know that and they are not intimidated.”
Only two seniors — Joe Rhodes and Hunter Pifer — are on the Hawk roster while nine seniors dot the Lions player sheet.
“We will have everybody available as far as pitching,” Evans said, “but I am counting on Alex to carry us through and believe he can.”
Shelton is the most dangerous bat for DMC. He hits .457 with 48 total hits and 40 RBIs. He has scored 22 runs and hit 10 doubles, four triples and one home run. Grant Cassady is second among the five DMC players hitting above .300 with his .393 clip. Cassady had 33 hits, includign five doubles, three triples and two homer and had driven in 18 runs while scoring 27 times.
Reese Jamison’s .462 average and .562 on base percentage leads W-G. He has scored 33 times, driven home 28 runs and has 43 hits, including 13 doubles, a triple and a dinger.
Bryce Achenbach has solidified the lower portion of the lineup with a .365 clip and .443 OBP. He has 23 RBIs, 31 runs and is 23-of-25 on stolen base attempts.
Rhodes had 32 hits (eight doubles) and 32 RBIs while hitting .340 and scoring 19 times, with Pacey Moats coming on strong in the latter half of the season to hit .326 and score 19 runs.
Saturday’s winner will play Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Nevada in the Substate 6 Final, a trip to the state tournament on the line. Third-ranked Dike-New Hartford (28-5) faces visiting Roland-Story (17-18) in the District 11 Final Saturday.
