PARK FALLS – When the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association polls were released Monday morning, Park Falls coach Tom Armstrong was surprised at what he saw.

After not being ranked in the preseason poll, his Cardinals had performed well enough to earn the No. 9 spot in the Division 3 poll and made the big jump to the top spot this week.

“After reaching the sectional finals last year and not being ranked we had used the underdog card,” Armstrong said. “We’ve told the kids we had to work our way up the ladder and we’re at the top of the ladder already.

“I felt we were going to have a pretty good team, but I wasn’t predicting anything like this. It came as a bit of a surprise.”

Park Falls has started the season off with 11 straight wins and first place in the Marawood-North Conference, due in most part to pitching and defense.

“Real simply we’ve gave up 14 runs in 11 games,” Armstrong said. “Our pitchers are throwing strikes and the defense has not given up extra outs.”

Senior Jacob Herbst leads the pitching staff with just two earned runs in 28 innings of work. He showed what he was made of in a win over conference rival Rib Lake earlier this season when he struck out 15 while issuing a single walk.

The Cardinals’ No. 2 hurler, junior Casey Plemon, has only allowed two runs in 20 innings, both were unearned.

Armstrong discounts the success the offense has seen so far this season – the Cardinals have scored 21,  18 and 11 (twice) runs in victories – sighting inconsistent pitching.

“You’re going to take on some dominant pitchers if you make a deep postseason run,” Armstrong said. “That’s when you’re going to need that solid pitching and defense to win games.”

As the wins have come, the confidence of the players has risen. With a staring 10, including a designated hitter, being made up of two seniors, four juniors and four sophomores, that confidence has been rather vital.

“Winning breeds confidence,” Armstrong said. “Every time you take the field, these guys have the feeling they have a chance to win that game.”

Throw in the fact that the Park Falls softball team has held the FastpitchChronicle.com Division 3 top spot all season has helped give the baseball players more confidence and a feeling of belonging in the town of just over 3,000, as well.

It has helped Armstrong give his team something to push the team that has now shed that underdog role.

“The line I use is that you’re only as good as your last game,” Armstrong said. “Whatever happened in the past is over and you can’t do anything about it.”