OTTUMWA — The storybook tale which was the Centerville Big Reds’ baseball season added an epilogue Tuesday, as seniors Wallace Carter and Patrick Harshman were named all-state in Class 3A by the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Both players were named to the first team, as Carter — who led the state in batting average — was honored as an outfielder and Harshman was named as a utility player for the state champion Big Reds.

Carter batted .553 on the season and managed to get a base hit in all three state tournament games last week — including the game-winning RBI in a 1-0 championship game win over Harlan — despite playing with a painful leg injury. Carter has won two discus state titles, is a two-time placewinner at the state wrestling tournament and is also an all-state football player.

Harshman batted .470 for coach Bill Huisman’s squad and dominated on the pitching mound all season long for Centerville. He earned pitching wins during Centerville’s first two games at the state tournament – both complete-game victories over third-ranked Charles City (11-1) and top-ranked West Delaware (2-0). Harshman had a 13-1 record on the mound this season.

At the plate, Harshman was 5-for-9 (.556) at state with three walks and a tournament-high three stolen bases, including two steals, two hits and the state-tournament winning run in the championship game.

The Big Reds, who finished the season 32-7 overall, defeated the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in Class 3A on the way to the state title, and Centerville also led the entire tournament in team batting average and was second overall in pitching earned run average.

Other area all-state selections included junior Jake Davis of North Mahaska and senior Trevor Roberts of Twin Cedars. Both were named to the second team in Class 1A as pitchers.

Davis had a perfect 9-0 record on the mound this season with a 1.62 ERA, while Roberts was 7-2 with a 2.13 ERA.

The four seniors who were selected as team captains for 2008 were Andrew Host of Southeast Polk in Class 4A, B.J. Hermsen of West Delaware in Class 3A, Willie Argo of Davenport Assumption in Class 2A and Reggie Hochstetler of Iowa Mennonite in Class 1A.

Iowa Newspaper Association All-State Baseball Team

7/28/08

CLASS 4A

FIRST TEAM

Pitcher: Dean McArdle, Sioux City North, Jr.; T. J. Werner, Burlington, Sr.; Ryan Torgerson, Johnston, Jr.