VAN HORNE -- The Marion baseball team had been denied an appearance to the state baseball tournament for three straight years, losing in the substate championship games in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

With his team playing in Wednesday night’s Class 3A substate championship game against Williamsburg, Marion Coach Steve Fish was worried about what he was going to say to his team if they lost again.

“I told myself all day to stay positive but when things were starting to go bad, I was wondering what could I say this year,” said Fish.

After the final out was recorded, and Marion players and coaches stormed the field in celebration, Fish’s worries had vanished.

In an exciting game played at Benton Community High School, Marion defeated Williamsburg 6-5, scoring the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Marion its second state tournament berth in school history.

Marion (26-16) is seeded fifth and plays No. 4 seed Storm Lake (26-8) in the Class 3A quarterfinals Tuesday at 12 p.m. at Principal Park in Des Moines.

“This means a lot,” said senior right fielder Dusty Albaugh. “Last year we had a bitter taste coming to this place and we just wanted to get redemption so bad. Three years in a row is too many and we just wanted to get back to the state tournament.”

History looked like it was going to repeat itself for the Indians, after Williamsburg stole all of the momentum and scored three runs in the fifth to go ahead 5-4.

In the sixth, Marion’s first two batters were retired by Williamsburg ace Kelly O’Rourke, but Marion’s Mitch Wagner got things started with a base rip up the middle. Zach Nielsen hit a routine groundball to the third baseman, but an errant throw left Nielsen safe at first and allowed Wagner to scoot to third.

That brought up Albaugh, who was hitless in his first three plate appearances. With a 1-ball, 2-strike count, Albaugh made solid contact and drove the ball up the middle, scoring Wagner from third. Lady Luck was on Marion’s side when the ball skipped under the centerfielder's glove and rolled to the wall, allowing Nielsen to score from first and give the Indians a 6-5 lead.

“I was just thinking I have to get a hit,” said Albaugh. “He threw it right there and I took it and good things happened.”

Marion took the field in the top of the seventh, led by junior pitcher Tyler Hedtke, who went for a complete game. Hedtke quickly retired the first two Williamsburg hitters, but then gave up a base hit to Tyler Greiner. Hedtke got Williamsburg’s clean up hitter Logan Shepherd to hit a ground ball to third baseman Wagner, who made the throw across the diamond for the final out.

The celebration ensued.

Wagner, who turned in a stellar performance going 4-for-4, led Marion at the plate. Accounting for nearly half of his team’s hits, Wagner displayed timely hitting as he set up his team for the win.

“I was just trying to stay back on this guy,” said Wagner. “I knew he had a good curveball and I was just trying to pick up the fastball and if he threw it to me I was going to hit a line drive.”

Marion’s state tournament berth is only the second in school history, and Fish looks for the senior leadership to make the Indians competitive.

“This means a lot. We have had some seniors starting for three or four years and they finally got there. We have a nice little program and we deserve to be down there.”

Mere seconds after Fish uttered those last words, he was drenched with a Gatorade bath courtesy of his players.

WILLIAMSBURG (5)
Marine, 2b, 4 2 0 0, Wetjen, ss, 4 1 1 1, Greiner, lf, 4 1 1 0, Shepherd, 1b, 4 1 1 1, Cain, 3b, 3 0 1 2, O’Rourke, p, 3 0 1 0, Lehmkuhl, rf, 3 0 0 0, Still, dh, 3 0 0 0, Schultz, cf, 3 0 0 0. Totals  31 5 5 4. 

MARION (6)
Semler, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Wagner, 3b, 4 1 4 2, Nielsen, ss, 4 1 1 0, Albaugh, rf, 4 0 1 2, Biery, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Johnson, c, 3 0 0 0, Charipar, cf, 3 1 2 0, Fish, dh, 3 1 1 0, Davila, lf, 3 1 0 0. Totals  32 6 10 4.

Williamsburg     200 030 0 -   5  5 2
Marion            040 002 x  -   6 10 2

O’Rourke and Gorsch. Hedtke and Johnson.  W – Hedtke.  L – O’Rourke.  2B - Shepherd.  SB - Marine.