It's not a dynasty.

Marion High School baseball coach Steve Fish made that clear Wednesday night. In fact, he won't use the word.

"I just think we have some kids that buy into it," he said.

The Indians buy into winning division titles in the historic Wamac Conference. They did it again this season, which makes four times in the last five years.

Marion has captured West Division flags in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011, but Fish insisted it's not a dynasty.

A mini-dynasty, perhaps.

"It's something we try to do every year," said Kasey Semler, Marion's all-state second baseman who has started since his freshman year in 2008. "It's not that important, but at the same time it's kind of nice to shoot for something."

The Indians tied Waterloo Columbus for the West Division title this year with an 11-3 record in the division. They clinched the pennant last week, which is a good thing considering the way their doubleheader with Western Dubuque turned out Wednesday night.

The Bobcats swept Marion, 9-3 and 8-7, in a Wamac Conference doubleheader at the Marion field, but the results had nothing to do with the division races.

Western Dubuque competes in the East Division while Marion competes in the West. The games counted in their overall Wamac records, but had no effect on division titles.

The two losses dropped Marion to 23-16 overall and 18-12 in the Wamac. Western Dubuque climbed to 26-14 overall and 23-7 in the Wamac. Solon won the East Division crown.

Marion competes in the West Division with Benton Community, Center Point-Urbana, Clear Creek Amana, Waterloo Columbus, Independence, Vinton-Shellsburg and Williamsburg. And four times in the last five years, the Indians have finished on top.

"I feel good about that," Fish said. "We expect to do that. That's one of our expectations. As bad as it looked early, these guys still found a way."

It looked bad for the Indians in May, when two of their top pitchers from 2010 did not join the team and several others got hurt, including ace lefthander Cale Cannoy.

"We thought we'd be pretty good in January, but the way it worked out we started panicking in May," Fish said. "And these guys have really done a good job from a pitching standpoint. I'm proud of them."

Fish feels he has a nice blend of talent on his club. He's got some baseball-first guys, and he's got versatile athletes who play several sports.

Semler will play college basketball at Kirkwood Community College next season, but he's stuck with baseball for his entire prep career.

"I grew up with the game," he said. "Honestly, I like it as much as I do basketball. I love the grind of it, every day."

Western Dubuque got a three-run homer from Ryan Lehmann and dominated the first game Wednesday, 9-3. Mitch Wagner, Trev Biery, Andrew Charipar and Josh Davila had two hits apiece for Marion.

The Bobcats took an early 6-2 lead in the nightcap, but the Indians rallied and grabbed a 7-6 edge in the bottom of the fifth when Semler drew a bases-loaded walk.

Marion had the split within reach, but the Indians gave it away. Western Dubuque scored an unearned run in the seventh inning to the tie the game, 7-7, then scored another unearned run in the eighth to take the lead for good.

The Bobcats did not get a hit in either inning, but took advantage of Marion's generosity. Christian Stekl pitched well in relief for the Indians, but was the hard-luck loser.

Marion hosts Center Point-Urbana in a Class 3A district opener Friday at 7 p.m. The game was moved to Marion due to storm damage at the Vinton-Shellsburg field this week.

Marion has come within one victory of reaching the Class 3A state tournament in 2008, 2009 and 2010, but the Indians lost in the substate finals each year.

"We don't want that to happen again," Semler said. "We want to go to state."

The Indians are tired of being disappointed. They want to end their season in Des Moines.

"That's what we're really looking at," Fish agreed. "We'd really like to get that off our shoulders."

Game 1

WESTERN DUBUQUE (9)
Pitz, lf, 4 0 0 0, Reimer, ss, 4 2 2 0, Tuttle, dh, 4 3 2 0, Lehmann, rf, 2 2 1 3, Massey, 3b, 4 1 3 3, Westhoff, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Ludwig, c, 3 0 0 0, McDermott, cf, 0 1 0 0, Hoeger, 2b, 3 0 1 0, Besler, cf, 4 0 0 0. Totals 31 9 10 7.

MARION (3)
Semler, 2b, 4 0 1 1, Wagner, 3b, 3 0 2 0, Nielsen, ss, 4 0 0 0, Albaugh, rf, 2 0 0 0, Biery, 1b, 4 1 2 1, Johnson, c, 3 0 0 0, C. Cannoy, cr, 0 1 0 0, Andrew Charipar, cf, 4 0 2 1, Fish, dh, 3 0 0 0, Davila, lf, 3 1 2 0. Totals 30 3 9 3.

Western Dubuque   304 100 1 - 9 10 0
Marion                    011 001 0 - 3 9 3

Samson and Ludwig. Connelly and Johnson. W - Samson. L - Connelly. 2B - Massey, Charipar. HR - Lehmann. SB - Lehmann, Westhoff, Wagner.

Game 2

WESTERN DUBUQUE (8)
Pitz, lf, 3 2 1 1, Reimer, ss, 4 0 1 1, Tuttle, dh, 4 1 0 1, Lehmann, rf, 5 1 2 2, Massey, 3b, 3 0 0 1, Westhoff, 1b, 3 0 1 0, Ludwig, c, 3 0 0 1, McDermott, cr, 0 1 0 0, Hoeger, 2b, 5 2 1 0, Besler, cf, 3 1 1 0. Totals 33 8 7 7.

MARION (7)
Semler, 2b, 3 2 1 3, Wagner, 3b, 4 0 1 1, Nielsen, ss, 4 0 1 1, Albaugh, rf, 5 1 1 1, Biery, 1b, 5 1 2 1, Johnson, c, 3 0 0 0, Andrew Charipar, cr, 3 1 1 0, Fish, dh, 2 1 0 0, C. Cannoy, pr, 0 0 0 0, McGarvey, lf, 0 0 0 0, Stekl, p, 0 0 0 0, Davila, p/lf, 2 1 1 0. Totals 31 7 8 7.

Western Dubuque  240 000 11 - 8 7 2
Marion                  210 310 00 - 7 8 7

McCoy and Ludwig. Davila, Stekl (2) and Johnson. W - McCoy. L - Stekl. 2B - Reimer, Lehmann, Semler, Wagner, Albaugh. 3B - Charipar. SB - McDermott.