Baseball tourney opens in 1A and 2A

The state baseball tournament opened today with first round class 1A games in Carroll, and class 2A in Marshalltown. Dyersville-Beckman built three-run lead in the bottom of the third inning and then held off a rally to down West Liberty 4-3 in the 2A first round. Senior Matt Ungs scored the winning run and pitched Beckman to the victory. He says the younger members of the team show a few nerves.Ungs gave up the three runs to let West Liberty tie the game in the sixth. He says he had to refocus on the mound. He says he just started hitting his spots again after getting lazy.Beckman coach Tom Jenk junior says Ungs showed the poise of a veteran, as he’s the only starter with any state tournament experience.Jenk says he wasn’t surprised by West Liberty’s sixth inning rally.Jenk says the team prides itself on doing well at the tournament, as they’ve never lost in the first round.West Liberty coach Don McCallister says his team didn’t give up easily — just what he expected.McCallister says this is a season to build on after the team beat several strong opponents to get to the tourney. It was the first time in 56 years the team made it to state.Dyersville Beckman moves on with a record of 29-12, and West Liberty finishes the season at 17-14.Albia downed Westwood Sloan 2-1 in the second 2A game of the day. The low scoring game was surprising for Albia coach Boyd Brittain.Joe Trickle picked up the win for Albia in their first trip to state. He had six strikeouts in upping his record to 9-3.Two more games are on the schedule tonight in Marshalltown.Carlisle meets Unity Christian and Eagle Grove takes on Hudson in the last game of the day.In the opening class 1A game, Lansing Kee got three runs in the third inning and eight in the 4th to down Sidney 11-1 in five innings. North Tama and Burlington Notre Dame slugged it out for 7 innings before North Tama came away with a 7-6 victory. The game was tied at 4 heading into the 7th. North Tama scored three runs in the top of the inning, then Notre Dame scored two in the bottom of the seventh and left the tying run stranded at second base.