Williamsburg drawn into the state's top baseball story

WILLIAMSBURG – Like it or not, they've become part of “the story” of the prep baseball season.To be fair, not many will be talking about the Williamsburg Raiders going into their Class 3A quarterfinal Tuesday at the state baseball tournament. They'll be fairly anonymous, which might be a good thing.It'll be all about the opponent instead. Sioux City Heelan is the top seed, the same Heelan that's at Des Moines' Principal Park on a technicality.Well, not really a technicality, as much as a broken rule. LeMars beat the top-ranked Crusaders in an extra-inning substate final last week, only to have its win overturned by the Iowa High School Athletic Association since it used a pitcher ineligible to throw because of state innings-limitations rules.They lost, but won.“Just weird,” said Williamsburg's Cody Marine. “I've never heard of something like that before. Losing and still going to state. It's kind of like ‘Wow.'”“Honestly, I feel terrible for the LeMars coach and the LeMars team,” said Williamsburg Coach Ben Grier. “I can't imagine being in their position.”Grier's club is still in a pretty tough situation itself, a No. 8 seed with a so-so 20-18 record taking on a team that's 34-4. The big question, of course, is how Heelan will respond to getting a second chance at a state title.With kids, you never really know.“You're right. You don't know how Heelan is going to react,” Grier said. “They could feel like they're playing with house money and be real loose. They could look at it like they're getting a second chance, and could come out and be a buzzsaw. “Or will they feel like they don't belong? Not to make light of the situation, but we're telling our guys that ‘Hey, they've already lost a postseason game. They can be beaten.'”Williamsburg took some hits in the regular season as a member of a Wamac Conference that also has Dyersville Beckman, Mount Vernon and Waterloo Columbus in the 2A state tourney field. Grier is telling his guys they won't see anything in Des Moines they didn't see during the season.And the Raiders have some pretty big chips of their own to throw into the pot in guys like Marine, second in the 3A tournament with a .477 batting average and first in hits (63).The pressure should be on Heelan, no question. Will that be enough to give these upstart Raiders a chance.“We're going over there with the intent of winning our first game,” Grier said. “Not just going over , playing one and calling it good. We want to win.”