The West High Trojans believe they've got enough magic to keep the clock from striking midnight on their Cinderella story.

West High shortstop Marcus Ahrens waits for the ball as Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Mike Russell slides into second base during a game earlier this season. West High opens play in the Class 4A state tournament at noon today. Press-Citizen file photo

"We have a big task ahead of us," junior R.J. Jerrick said. "But we kind of thrive on it. We enjoy being the underdogs."

West High (20-22) opens the Class 4A state baseball tournament at noon today in Marshall-town. The Trojans face the top-seeded and second-ranked Ankeny Hawks (34-6).

Despite a substate littered with ranked foes, West beat No. 3 Cedar Rapids Jefferson 4-3 and advanced to state with a 5-4 win over top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

"We come in as the underdog, and we've been the underdog the whole year," junior Marcus Ahrens said. "No one in the whole state expected us to make it out of our substate, but that's going to prepare us pretty well."

Perhaps no one outside of the Iowa City/Coralville area is expecting West to make it out of today's game against Ankeny.

Class 4A Today’s state quarterfinal games at Marshalltown: • No. 1 Ankeny (34-6) vs. West High (20-22), noon. • No. 6 Davenport North (31-8) vs. No. 9 Des Moines Lincoln (28-9), 2 p.m. • No. 3 Sioux City North (37-5) vs. No. 8 West Des Moines Valley (33-10), 6 p.m. • No. 5 Mason City (33-7) vs. North Scott (27-14), 8 p.m.

The Trojans are one of two unranked teams - seventh seed North Scott being the other - in the 4A field, and are the only team with more losses than wins.

"Kennedy was, in our mind, the best team in the state," West coach Charlie Stumpff said. "Jefferson was also very good.

"Our guys won't be intimidated by a team that's supposed to be good. It's cliché, but we just have to play our game and play well."

Stumpff started coaching at West High back in 1993. Every year it seemed as if the Trojans were ready to break out, but fell just short.

That included losses in the substate final the previous three seasons.

"We've been pretty darn good the last 12 years," Stumpff said. "We just haven't got some big wins when we needed it."

That this team would break the spell seemed unlikely heading into the postseason. A young West team managed to bag some top-10 teams throughout the season - including City High, Dubuque Hempstead and Council Bluffs Lewis Central - but also had a few inglorious defeats.

"We told the kids many times we were good enough to beat anybody and bad enough to lose to anybody," Stumpff said. "That was just how it was. We had some great wins, then lose to bad teams.

"We just didn't put it together on a consistent basis."

Sophomore Adam Slager, West's pitching leader with an 8-3 record, a 2.25 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 59 innings, said finding that consistency has been key.

"Our season was shaky all along," Slager said. "But we know we're good if we play within ourselves."

Stumpff said the team started to believe in itself during the substate semifinal against Jefferson. Down 3-0, the Trojans came back and got a 4-3 lead they never relinquished.

"That was the proof they needed," Stumpff said. "Especially because just a week-and-a-half before, Jefferson really embarrassed us up there."

That helped the Trojans believe they could beat No. 1 Kennedy and earn the school's first state tournament berth since 1981.

"It's been a long, long time. Too long. Now we have a great opportunity to really make an impact in the state of Iowa," Jerrick said. "We can let people know that West High can play baseball."

It'll take a little magic, too. Ankeny has a lineup full of sluggers, and can trot out Todd Vogel, who is 9-0 with a 1.85 ERA.

"We have a chance to win," Stumpff said. "We have seven sophomores, six juniors, and they are just a very loose group. I'm not sure if they understand what the heck is going on.

"We won't be too uptight, too nervous."

Sophomore Doak Walker leads West in hitting with a .413 average. Brett Dixon leads the team with 35 RBIs and has 14 doubles.

But West has a team batting average of just .288 and will have to use a little of its substate magic today to move on.

"We have a big task ahead of us and we kind of thrive on it," Jerrick said. "We'll put it all out there and enjoy the ride."