Dave Emanuel is still “in shock.”

The good kind. Winning-the-lottery shock.

“I don’t think anyone would be mad at me for saying it,” said Emanuel, head coach of the Ohio Valley Regional champion 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars from Appleton, Wis. “At our first couple tournaments, we were struggling. We were not winning games. We were not looking good.”

As painful as they were, the early struggles were no surprise. This Appleton squad is not your typical all-star team.

In fact, “no-stars” might be a more accurate description of the group that will open the Babe Ruth 13-15 World Series against Nederland, Texas, at 12:05 p.m. Saturday at David Story Field. All but four of the players from the 2008 14-year-old team opted to join a traveling team at the beginning of the season. When league officials held open tryouts to construct the 15-year-old all-star team that would officially represent Appleton Babe Ruth at the district tournament, only 13 players showed up.

Those 13 made the team.

The rest is history.

“It worked out great,” Emanuel said. “We struggled early, but the difference from where we started and where we are now is night and day. I definitely think we’re a team that is worthy of being in a World Series.”

Appleton went winless in most of its early tournament competition, but the team was gaining chemistry. It took coaches and players a while, but eventually “every guy found his niche on defense,” Emanuel said. “Then our pitching started to come around. Then our hitting.”

At a two-day tournament in early June, Appleton dropped a pair of games on Day 1, then came back on the second day and “nearly won the tournament,” he added. “Since then, we’ve lost two games.”

The first loss came in the district championship, but since the top two teams advanced to the state tournament, Appleton still had life.

The next loss came after Appleton romped through the state tournament and to the regional title game undefeated. LaPorte, Ind., needed two wins to wrest the regional title away, and was halfway there after denying Appleton 3-2.

“The kids were down that night,” said Emanuel. “The next morning, we jumped on their pitcher early. I could tell we were going to be fine.”

Appleton held on for a 3-1 victory, and a group of 13 that had distinguished itself merely by showing up for a tryout had its ticket to the World Series.

Emanuel said that the crew from Appleton, a 20-minute drive south of Green Bay, is excited to see the Pacific Northwest.

“I wish I could spend a whole week fishing,” he said.

Appleton is also excited to test its talents at the highest level.

“If we pitch well and avoid errors, we should do OK,” said Emanuel.

The Appleton skipper expressed some trepidation about playing four games in four days, and knows it will test the team’s pitching depth. He’ll rely heavily on his “three horses” — starters he trusts to pitch deep into games — and said there are five pitchers who will “be in the mix.”

Jake Schnese and Beau Rigstad combined on a six-hitter in the regional championship game. They anchor the rotation along with Ben Emanuel, the coach’s son.

Schnese, Rigstad, Emanuel and Patrick Hollenbach are Appleton’s best hitters, Coach Emanuel added.

Schnese, Emanuel and Bradley Morgan made the Ohio Valley Regional all-tournament team.

The World Series will “be bittersweet” for Coach Emanuel because it will be the last week of his youth baseball coaching career. Emanuel coached his oldest son, Nathan, for six years, and this is his sixth year coaching Ben.

“It’s the farthest we’ve ever been in the playoffs,” Emanuel said. “But it’s our last year together.”

Appleton, Wis.

Ohio Valley Regional champs

Population: 70,087

Notable: Appleton had the first telephone in Wisconsin and the first incandescent light in any city outside of the East Coast. The Valley Fair Shopping Center, built in 1954, laid claim to being the first enclosed shopping mall in the United States.

Famous natives: Harry Houdini, magician; Rocky Bleier, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back; John Bradley, Iwo Jima Navy flag-raiser; Willem Dafoe, actor; Tony Kubek, baseball player and announcer; Joseph McCarthy, senator; William Beverly Murphy, president of Campbell Soup Company; Greta Van Susteren, FoxNews television anchor

Driving distance from Longview: 1,988 miles