The Washington Demon baseball team travels to Des Moines for the first round of State baseball today.

The Demons drew the short straw, getting the eighth seed and playing the No. 1 team in the state Dallas Center Grimes in the first round.

Washington did beat No. 2 Grinnell in the district playoffs 8-3, but the Mustangs are a more well rounded team.

They are hitting .320 as a team and has a .431 on base percentage, but despite being No. 1 they lead no offensive category in the state.

Their pitching on the other hand does. They rank first in opponents batting average, hits allowed, runs allowed and ERA. The team ERA is a 1.28 and opponents are hitting just .152 off the staff.

Head coach Nathan Miller acknowledges the good pitching by the Mustangs, but believes the schedule that the Demons have played sets them up for success.

“They’ve got some nice arms, they have a senior who is 9-0 who we will probably face, he’s the coaches son,”Miller said. “He’s a hard throwing pitching who has some nice off-speed, but what’s nice is that our schedule prepares us for this, we’ve seen some really nice pitching this year.”

Washington is hitting .319 and has an on base percentage of .417. Their starting pitcher for today’s game is Jared Henry, who in the post season has thrown a 1.63 ERA, with 13 hits given up, three runs (all earned), eight strikeouts and just four walks.

Washington and Dallas Center Grimes square off today at noon at Principal Park in Des Moines, and you can catch all of the action right here on AM and FM KCII and KCIIradio.com under radio plus with pregame at 11:40 and first pitch at noon. The one to count on for state baseball action is AM and FM KCII.