ANKENY — The Fort Dodge baseball team found out what stands between them and a spot in the Class 4A state tournament on Tuesday.

A few hours later, the Dodgers went on the road and picked up a convincing 7-2 victory here over Ankeny Centennial.

Fort Dodge (29-8 overall) pounced on the Jaguars in the second, plating three runs. Davis Underberg drove in Cal Pederson for the first, Jaxson Dencklau’s bunt single scored Will McElroy and Underberg came around to score on a wild pitch.

“No doubt (scoring early) that was huge,” said Fort Dodge head coach Blake Utley. “We got runners on and we incoroprated our bunt game, Jaxson laid a bunt down and we scored a runner from second. Our next bunter was Tanner and he laid one down.

“We sped the game up on them and I don’t think they were expecting that.”

After Ankeny Centennial (17-14) cut it to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the third, the Dodgers answered back, scoring once in the fourth and three more times in the fifth.

Underberg scored the run in the fourth with Tru McBride’s two-RBI triple in the fifth sending both Hayden Porter and Kolton Schiltz home. Bo Marsh brought in McBride to make it 7-2.

“With runners on first and second, there was a timeout and we were talking to Tru,” Utley said. “He said if he throws me a fastball, “I’m going to crush it.

“He got a ball inside and it was called a strike. The next one was a fastball on the white and he crushed it. Not many parks could hold it, but it went about 410.”

That was more than enough run support for Mason Frevert, as he went the distance, striking out six with six hits allowed and just one earned run.

“Mason threw a great game against a high quality opponent,” Utley said. “We know he’s good enough to do that and go out and perform well.

“He has a lot of confidence and can change the shape and speed of your pitch. Very proud of him against a team that was hitting .308.”

Porter, Schiltz, McBride, McElroy, Underberg and Dencklau each had a hit, with McBride driving in two. Marsh, Underberg and Dencklau each added an RBI, as Underberg scored twice.

McElroy and Porter both stole bases.

The Jaguars had won four of five, including a doubleheader sweep of Ankeny and a 5-2 victory over Waukee Northwest. Ankeny Centennial had won each of the last four meetings vs. the Dodgers, with all of those taking place in 2022.

Fort Dodge heads to Waterloo East (7-21) Wednesday for an Iowa Alliance North doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. They finish out the regular season on Tuesday, July 7 at Ed McNeil Field vs. Webster City (18-8).

The Dodgers will host Waterloo West (12-16) three nights later to open postseason play. The 4A, Substate 2 bracket features Waukee (22-9) vs. Des Moines Lincoln (9-21) and Mason City (25-8) vs. Ames (16-17).

With one more victory, Fort Dodge will have secured its first 30-win season since 2012, when they finished 37-7 and reached the 4A state championship game.