(Anita) In a Class 1A Substate Final on KSOM Tuesday night it will be #8 CAM opposing Ogden. Pregame coverage starts at 6:45 p.m.
CAM’s senior class has won 110 games in their careers, but they are 0-3 in substate contests. Last year they were oh so close and are hoping to capture that elusive state tournament spot this season. Coach Dan Daugherty says, “We lost in extra inning to the eventual state champion. We’ve played pretty well. We’ve been in a position that we could have won any of those three games. We’ve just got to get over the hump.” As far as the senior class is concerned, “I knew about them when they played Little League. They played a lot of baseball and they went to a lot of tournaments around the state. We knew we had a good bunch coming in and they didn’t disappoint.” Daugherty adds, “They are definitely coachable. They are great kids. They listen and now that they are seniors they are all great leaders. They’ve been a great bunch of kids.”
Senior Cade Ticknor commented following the team’s district final win, “I think we are definitely more mature than we were last year.” He says, “I think it’s pretty big that this is the 4th time around and we all know this is our last shot.” They won a state championship in football and would love to go out the same way in baseball, “We’ve been really close quite a bit now. In football we said we were really close and we got it done. I think we all have the same mindset going into this last substate game.”
Ogden has defeated Murray 5-4 and Earlham 6-0 in the postseason. Last round they knocked off #9 Ankeny Christian 3-2 in eight innings. Coach Daugherty shares this take on the Bulldogs. “They are pretty solid. There is nobody that really sticks out stat wise. They are fundamentally sound and well coached. I think they’ll play small ball. If they get somebody on they’ll try to move them over. We’ll have to be ready for that.”
CAM is expected to start Lane Spieker who is 6-1 with a 0.72 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings pitched. The Cougars have defeated Bedford 14-1, Lenox 7-4, and Lamoni 7-3 in the postseason. CAM is 26-2 while Ogden enters the game with record of 23-9. The Bulldogs needed to ride Stellen Wagner (8-2, 2.59 ERA) for over 90 pitches on Saturday. This leaves them with three different pitchers that have thrown at least 35 innings on the season. They include Dylan Perdue (4-2, 2.10 ERA), Noah Lingren (3-1, 2.53 ERA), and Aiden Kathman (5-2, 3.32 ERA).
Ogden coach (and former Griswold Tiger) Dick Smith:
CAM coach Dan Daugherty:
