The dream of having four Metro baseball teams reach the Class 4A state tournament was dashed by the Iowa High School Athletic Association Thursday.

The IHSAA put No. 7 Linn-Mar and No. 9 Kennedy in the same substate, which means only one of them can make the state tournament. The Lions swept the Cougars in a conference doubleheader earlier this season and have the edge for the No. 1 seed in the substate.

Cedar Falls, Marshalltown, Waterloo East and Waterloo West are in Substate No. 3 with Linn-Mar and Kennedy.

The fourth-ranked Jefferson J-Hawks have been placed in Substate No. 4 with Clinton, Hempstead, Dubuque Senior, Western Dubuque and North Scott.

The eighth-ranked Prairie Hawks are in Substate No. 6 with Burlington, Washington, Iowa City High, Iowa City West and Ottumwa.

Linn-Mar and Kennedy are not the only ranked Class 4A teams in the same substate. The IHSAA did the same thing with No. 3 Southeast Polk and No. 6 Dowling in Substate No. 7.

The Marion Indians and Xavier Saints have been assigned to Substate No. 4 in Class 3A along with Davenport Assumption, Center Point-Urbana, DeWitt Central, Maquoketa, Solon and Dubuque Wahlert.

Cedar Valley Christian has been assigned to District No. 8 in Class 1A with Cal-Wheatland, Easton Valley, Lisbon, Bellevue Marquette, Midland, North Linn, Price of Peace and Springville.

The Class 4A and 3A playoffs begin July 17. The Class 1A playoffs begin July 11.

The seedings and first-round pairings will be announced in two weeks.