The Iowa Mennonite baseball team opens a bid for a second straight class 1A state title this evening with a visit to Highland for a district tournament opener. IMS has been top ranked all season and coach Kent Blossom’s team finished the regular season with a 26-1 record.
Blossom says there’s some determination on the team that they aren’t going to be content to make it to state one year and that’s it. He says they want to make strides to make it know that they are “here to stay” when it comes to the tournament.
IMS put up big offensive numbers this year and have scored ten or more runs in 15 straight games. Blossom says it is fun to watch the kids swing the bat. He says they’ve focused on swinging at pitches that they can drive hard and to not swing at the pitches pitchers want them to swing at. He says it takes a lot of discipline to do that.
IMS posted two lopsided wins over Highland during the regular season but the stakes are much higher this time. Blossom says it’s one seven inning ballgame and he says the uniqueness of the game allows anything to happen, and he says Highland is certainly capable of making it happen.