Fifth-ranked Ankeny Centennial and Ankeny have both received No. 2 seeds in the Class 4A substate baseball brackets that were unveiled Tuesday by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
The Jaguars (20-10) will host fifth-seeded Fort Dodge (12-18) in a Substate 2 quarterfinal on July 8 at 7 p.m. They’ve won three of the four meetings against the Dodgers this season–all of them via the 10-run mercy rule.
Top-ranked Johnston is the No. 1 seed in Substate 2. The Dragons (28-4) will host a substate quarterfinal against Des Moines North (0-24), while third-seeded Ames (17-15) will host Mason City (16-17) in the other quarterfinal.
The Hawks (19-10) will host Des Moines East (12-22) in a Substate 7 quarterfinal on July 8 at 7 p.m. The two teams have not met this season.
Sixth-ranked Urbandale is the top seed in Substate 7. The J-Hawks (20-12) will host a substate quarterfinal against Des Moines Lincoln (7-24), while Indianola (20-11) will host Ottumwa (21-13) in the other quarterfinal.
With first-round wins, Johnston and Urbandale would receive byes into the substate finals on July 13. As the highest remaining seeds, Ankeny and Centennial would host substate semifinals on July 11 if they survive their opening games.