CARROLL — Mediapolis High School baseball coach Rick Whiatker had an inkling this might be a special summer for the Bulldogs.

Whitaker has coached some great teams in past years, but this year’s group had something special about them. The Bulldogs had all the makings of a state tournament team.

The trick for Whitaker was putting all the pieces in the right places and having the stars align just right.

Everything fell into line fo Mediapolis, which will make its first state tournament appearance in 10 years on Tuesday.

Fifth-ranked Mediapolis (27-2) plays fourth-ranked Unity Christian (26-9) in a Class 2A state quarterfinal game at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Merchants Park in Carroll.

The winner will advance to the semifinals to play either No. 1 Underwood (24-2) or unranked Cascade (23-12) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Mediapolis is right where Whitaker thought they had a chance to be all along.

“I knew I was going to have one of my better teams. I’ve had quite a few good teams, especially my first couple years. We just didn’t get the breaks. You have to get the breaks. When you play playoff baseball, sometimes you need luck,” Whitaker said after the Bulldogs’ 2-0 win over MFL MarMac in a substate final last week. “There were a couple hard-hit balls right at people tonight. You get a little luck when you have a good team, that’s when you go. And the chemistry and the camaraderie. It’s all got to come together. I thought we had a chance, but I wasn’t 100 percent positive because anything can happen.”

The Bulldogs have ridden the strong right arm of senior pitcher Lance Ludens and a stellar defense this season throughout the postseason.

Ludens has been nearly perfect in the Bulldogs’ three shutout wins in the postseason. He has pitched 19 2/3 innings, allowed six hits, walked none, hit two batters and struck out 20 batters.

Ludens was at his best in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over MFL MarMac in a substate final at Solon. He scattered four hits, hit one batter and struck out nine.

For the season, Ludens is 11-0 with a 1.09 ERA. He has struck out 74 batters in 64 innings.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since eighth grade. To finally come out and do it my senior year, it’s a great feeling,” Ludens said after the MFL MarMac game. “I know I can rely on my defense every time I’m on the mound. I just go up there with confidence, try to throw strikes and get the job done.”

The Bulldogs have played clean defense behind him. They have committed just two errors in three games. Those two trends will need to continue if the Bulldogs hope to keep their march to a state championship alive.

“We need to play good defense. That’s been the key,” Whitaker said. “We don’t score a lot of runs, so we need to be clean in the field and get good pitching.”

To make a deep run in the state tournament — they would play three games in four days to get to the championship — they will need to get good outings from juniors Max Griffin and Kyler Crow.

“We are a different team when Lance is on the mound. They know he is going to throw strikes and the next pitch could be put in play,” Whitaker said. “Max has done a great job this season. He and Lance complement each other well.”

Unity Christian finished second in the Siouxland Conference behind MOC-Floyd Valley with a 14-2 record. The Knights shut out Estherville Lincoln Central, 4-0, in a substate final and have two shutouts in the postseason.

The Knights have a deep pitching staff, led by junior Dylan Bosma, He is 7-1 with a 2.30 ERA and had 40 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings. Braeden Bosma and Adler Van Essen also logged innings in the substate final.

The Knights are hitting .294 as a team with four home runs and are averaging 8.7 runs per game. They have committed 56 errors this season.

Dylan Bosma leads the Knights in hitting with a .355 average. He has scored 45 runs and driven in 34 runs.

Braeden Bosma has scored 33 runs and driven in 38 runs.

Unity Christian, located in Orange City, is six hours away from Mediapolis. Whitaker said he has been trying to find out as much information on the Knights as he can.

“They are so far out west. We don’t have any common opponents,” Whitaker said. “They look very similar to us just looking at their stats. They have three very competent pitchers.”

Going into the tournament not knowing much about other teams and not wanting to look past Unity Christian, Whitaker has simplified the Bulldogs’ game plan; keep doing what they’ve been doing.

After all, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

“I told the guys just go out and play your game and we’ll be okay,” Whitaker said. “We will but if we have to. The big key is just to get on base and put pressure on them. Just put the ball in play and see what happens. If we play the way we have been playing, I like our chances against anybody.”