DES MOINES - It was the type of game Kennedy baseball teams have won dozens of times over the years under Bret Hoyer.

Tense, low-scoring, dramatic.

This time, the Southeast Polk Rams managed a slight edge and tripped the third-ranked Cougars, 1-0, in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Southeast Polk (30-13) will face Dubuque Hempstead (37-5) in the semifinals Friday. Johnston (23-16) will play Iowa City West (33-9) in the other semifinal.

Kennedy, which finished ahead of Hempstead and Iowa City West as the Mississippi Valley Conference champs, fell short and finished 31-7.

Southeast Polk scored an unearned run in the first inning after Kennedy pitcher Sammy Lizarraga and first baseman Jimmy Cunningham failed to connect on a pickoff throw, allowing Anthony Schneider to reach third base as the ball rolled into foul territory.

Schneider scored on an infield grounder to give Southeast Polk a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, after just two batters had come to the plate.

As it turned out, that was enough.

Kennedy put runners at second and third with nobody out in the sixth inning, but the threat ended when Tyler Dralle hit the ball hard into a 4-6-3 double play.

Three outs later, it was over as the No.6 seed defeated the No.3 seed.

"We battled and did a great job," said Hoyer. "The defense wasn't what we were accustomed to all year (three errors), but we only gave up one run. We just couldn't get a key hit to score some runs.

"We certainly put ourselves in position to win the game and we just hit some balls right at them."

Derek Jacobus beat out an infield single to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. Zach Daniels hit a liner to left-center and the Cougars ended up with runners at second and third and nobody out when the ball popped out of the center fielder's glove on a diving attempt.

"I felt real good there," said Hoyer.

Lizarraga struck out for the first out. Hoyer wanted to try a safety squeeze with Ben Sass at the plate, but Southeast Polk wouldn't let him.

Southeast Polk pitcher Nick Arnold was told to throw three straight pitchouts as Sass laid off and Jacobus held his ground at third. Finally, the Rams gave Sass an intentional walk to load the bases and set up a double play.

Dralle hit the ball hard, but it went right to the Southeast Polk second baseman who started a crisp double play. Dralle runs hard, but he could not beat the rap and the inning was over.

Lizarraga, who led Kennedy in RBIs this season, was mad at himself for striking out with runners at second and third and nobody out.

"I let them down in a big spot. I didn't come through," he said.

Southeast Polk Coach Scott Belger knows that Hoyer likes to use squeeze bunts and didn't let it happen. "That's their game, and we knew it," he said. "It paid off for us. That was huge."

Hoyer tipped his cap to Belger in that situation.

"He's a great coach," said Hoyer. "He made a good move there and it worked out for them."

Lizarraga (7-1) allowed only two hits and struck out six batters in six innings, but the errant pickoff play in the first inning came back to haunt him.

"We wanted to keep him close or pick him off," said Lizarraga. "Jimmy (Cunningham) said he couldn't see it and it ended up hurting us."

It was the type of game Kennedy usually wins, but not this time.

"We did what we don't usually do this season. We made some errors and those errors really hurt us," said Lizarraga. "We had runners in scoring position three or four times and we couldn't capitalize. And it just killed us at the end."

Arnold (7-3) struck out seven batters and walk one in a complete game. Kennedy outhit Southeast Polk, 5-3, but it didn't matter.

Arnold made a string of big pitches, none bigger when he struck out Lizarraga in the sixth inning and got Dralle to hit into the double play.

"Being in those situations before in football and basketball really helped out," said Arnold. "It really did."

The Cougars liked their chances in the sixth inning with runners at second and third and nobody out.

"I thought for sure we'd score, but that was pretty much the whole game right there," said Daniels. "We'd get runners on and couldn't get them in.

"We didn't hit the ball, but we got enough hits and enough runners on that we should have won that game."

Belger thought both pitchers did a good job.

"Lizarraga was locating his fastball and his curveball and was giving us fits," he said. "In a big game, it comes down to making big plays. There was no room for error. The team that made the fewest mistakes was able to win it."

Southeast Polk  100 000 0 - 1 3 0
Kennedy         000 000 0 - 0 5 3

Arnold and Hyler. Lizarraga, Daniels (7) and Isaacs, Lizarraga (7). W - Arnold (7-3). L - Lizarraga (7-1).