MARSHALLTOWN - The West High Trojans made history Thursday. They found the weapons of mass destruction.

West High second baseman Sam Pringle tags out Ankeny's Shane Spooner as Spooner attempted to steal second base Thursday during the seventh inning of a state tournament game in Marshalltown. Des Moines Register / Bill Neibergall

The Ankeny bats were dangerous and hard to cool down in the Class 4A quarterfinal, and the No. 2 Hawks ended the Trojans' wild state baseball tournament run, 7-1.

"We started the game off well, but Ankeny hit the heck out of the ball," West junior R.J. Jerrick said. "And they hit it all over the place."

Also at state • What: Class 2A state baseball semifinal. • Matchup: Mid-Prairie (29-10) vs. LeGrand East Marshall (22-9). • When, where: 2 p.m. today in Marshall-town.

Ankeny came into the state tournament with 57 homers and moved into fifth place on the Iowa all-time list for team home runs in a season by ripping three against the Trojans.

"We've got strong kids and everybody works hard, everybody swings hard," said Ankeny junior Jeff Lanning, who hit a solo homer in the fourth inning. "We always hit the ball hard."

The Hawks had 10 hits, nine for extra bases. In addition to the three homers, Ankeny had six doubles.

"They took care of any mistakes we made," West coach Charlie Stumpff said. "You just have to pitch so well to keep them in the park. You almost have to pitch perfect, and that's a lot to ask of anybody, much less sophomores."

West High ace Adam Slager, who got the win over top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the substate final, gave up four runs in four innings. Fellow sophomore Brick Carter gave up another three runs on two big swings - a solo homer by Lanning and a two-run shot by Aaron Jarosh.

The long-balls made it hard for the Trojans to rally back as they had in their two substate wins.

"They took the wind out of our sails," Stumpff said. "Momentum in baseball, you feel the energy get taken from the dugout. It zaps you. We lost a little of that. They just kept building on it."

West High, which had beaten two ranked teams to advance to state, began the game with some zip against 4A's top-seeded team.

Marcus Ahrens had a leadoff single, was moved over on a bunt by Zack Anderson, and scored on a single down the left-field line by Jerrick.

That 1-0 lead held up over the first two innings.

"I was a little nervous at first because we hadn't seen their pitcher, or we hadn't heard much about them," Ankeny pitcher Todd Vogel said.

The Hawks took the Trojans seriously in starting Vogel, who came into the game with a 10-0 record and a 1.17 ERA.

"They are here and they are going to play with us," Lanning said of the 1-0 lead. "They aren't just going to roll over and die. But it didn't get us down."

The Hawks tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Jarosh in the third inning. It was still 1-1 when Lanning led off the top of the fourth with his round-tripper.

With one out, Shane Spooner reached base on a ball that was lost in the sun. Ankeny then followed that with RBI doubles from Vogel and Dan Larsen to make it 3-0.

"We knew we had to play well, and I think we played OK," Stumpff said. "We surely didn't play a perfect game, and we needed to play closer to a perfect game."

Unlike its previous two wins, West couldn't rally at the plate. After the first inning, the Trojans had only two runners reach scoring position against Vogel, who finished with seven strikeouts and just two walks.

"A bigger lead always relaxes you a lot," Vogel said. "You can go out there and work on pitching strikes."

"We knew they were going to pitch their number one," said West senior Brett Dixon, "and we didn't score runs off them ... and we should have."

Dixon and Anderson are the only seniors graduating for West, which finished the season 20-23 after reaching state for the first time since 1981.

"We'll miss our seniors, but we'll start off fresh," Jerrick said. "We have a little chip on our shoulder now and we'll work harder in the offseason."

That's music to Stumpff's ears. He had six sophomores and two juniors in his starting lineup Thursday, and he thinks the Trojans can return to state when the tournament moves to Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines next year.

"I'm ready to go to work right now," Stumpff said. "The ability is there. It's a matter of refining it and getting better.

"If this (experience) doesn't get you excited, then you're missing the boat."

West also had a sophomore team that went 33-6 despite all the young players already up on the varsity team. If sophomore catcher Zack Topping is any indication, there's even more talent to lean on in 2005.

Topping, who was thrown into the mix in the fifth inning against Jefferson in the substate semifinal and caught the Kennedy game, threw out two Ankeny runners and made a fantastic play on a pop-up near the backstop.

"He's a gamer, and he's just going to get better," Stumpff said. "We're feeling very good about the pool of talent we have coming back."

Ankeny (35-6) advanced to today's semifinal game against No. 9 Des Moines Lincoln (29-9), a 4-3 winner over No. 6 Davenport North.

Ankeny 001 312 0 - 7 10 2

West High 100 000 0 - 1 5 0

Todd Vogel and Jeff Lanning; Adam Slager, Brick Carter (5), Marcus Ahrens (7) and Zack Topping. W - Vogel (11-0). L - Slager (8-4). 2B - Lanning (A), Justin Funk (A), Shane Spooner (A), Vogel (A), Dan Larsen (A), Steve Bieghler (A). HR - Kalvin Johnson (A), Lanning (A), Aaron Jarosh (A).