Thursday at the state baseball tournament

CLASS 2A SEMIFINALS

Dyersville Beckman (34-6) vs. Roland-Story (28-13)

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Principal Park, Des Moines

Scouting Report: These teams eked out one-run wins in their respective quarterfinals: Beckman over Waterloo Columbus, 3-2, and Roland-Story over Mount Vernon, 2-1. Defending champion Beckman has won 11 of its last 12 games. The Blazers aren't a blazing team offensively but have gotten strong pitching and defense all season. It'll be interesting who Coach Tom Jenk Jr. decides to pitch. Ace Joey Lehmann is 12-0 and has allowed just six earned runs in 90 innings but threw a complete game against Columbus on Monday. So will it be Adam Noethe (5-2, 3.77 ERA) instead? He started Beckman's substate final win over New Hampton. Perhaps Levi Lawrence (4-2, 1.97)? Roland-Story has the lowest team batting average in the 2A field (.267) and is used to playing low-scoring, close games. Zach Hovick (12-3) has thrown every pitch of the postseason for the Norsemen.

Other Games Today

Class 2A Semifinals North Polk (30-4) vs. Carroll Kuemper (29-6), 8 p.m.

Class 1A Semifinals Mason City Newman (27-6) vs. Twin Cedars (36-2), noon Van Meter (34-8) vs. Van Buren (25-5), 2 p.m.