The Indianola baseball team upset #10 Urbandale Wednesday evening 8-6 in the substate final game to qualify for the class 4A state tournament as heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The Indians struck first, scoring two runs in the first on an RBI single from Casey Stecker and a passed ball, but the J-Hawks immediately took the lead scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Indianola came back in the third on a solo home run from Jack Strong and an RBI double from Gavin Legg to reclaim the lead, then piled on for another in the fourth with a solo home run from Brady Blake, and two more in the fifth with RBI hits from Kasey Carter and Blake to blow the game open 8-3.

Urbandale did not let their season come to a close without a fight however, scoring two runs in the fifth, but left the bases loaded in both the fifth and sixth innings before scoring a run in the seventh and threatening again but closer Kaden Ritchie earned the save to pick up the win.

Head coach Jon Fitzpatrick tells KNIA Sports his squad turned a corner several weeks ago, and since then have all bought into a winning mentality.

“The last three weeks of the year we’ve done a really nice job bringing the energy. When you do play four or five days a week, you inevitably get a lull and it’s tough to bring the energy every day especially for guys not playing. Luckily three weeks ago we reset. I had COVID at that time, and I was out for five days. And I have really good assistant coaches who just took over, and it was a complete reset. And we’ve played really well since that time.”

Brady Blake picked up the win on the mound going 2-4 at the plate, while Carter went 2-5. Indianola advances to play Tuesday at Iowa City, and as of Wednesday night are still awaiting their seeding, opponent, and game time.