Westminster Christian , Goreville advance to Class 1A title game
June 4, 2010
By Sean Duncan
Neither pitcher had his best stuff on Friday, but it still didn’t matter.
Overall, the game broke three Class 1A tournament records: combined hits, combined runs, and, most importantly for
“It was pretty crazy,” said
After an hour and 35 minute rain delay in the top of the seventh inning, Joe McGannon (2-for-3, four RBI) sealed the victory with a three-run homer to centerfield.
“I thought we could win this game in five if we could throw strikes and make plays,” Moeller said. “But our defense and pitching wasn’t there.”
The hard-throwing Elder, who was relieving Perez, hit two batters, walked one and uncorked three wild pitches that allowed three runs to score. All of a sudden, what appeared to be a blowout was now tied 7-7.
“We played really hard,” said Elder. “We just did whatever we could do to pull out the win.”
Perez also had three hits for the Warriors, and senior second baseman Brandon Weingartner tallied three hits and two runs. Ben Stevenson contributed two RBI while Andrew Mason had two hits. In all, six of the Warriors starters enjoyed multi-hit games.
Perez (10-0) started the game, but lasted only 1 1/3 innings after allowing six hits. Enter Elder (11-4), who got out of a second-inning jam with consecutive strikeouts, but labored through the third and fourth innings. Andrew Mason pitched the fifth, yielding one run, before coach Jeff Moeller brought back Perez. Perez finished strong by striking out two in the seventh to earn the save.
“We battled – that’s what we’ve done all year,” said
In the other semifinal game, Goreville defeated Tri-Valley 4-3 behind Nick Andros’ six-hit complete game. The 6-foot-6, 190-pound junior left-hander struck out nine and walked one to lead the Blackcats to the championship game.
Making their first state appearance, the Blackcats (24-11) scored all four run in the fourth inning by stringing together five consecutive hits.
In the seventh, Goreville’s defense got the yips, committing consecutive errors with two outs, as Tri-Valley (13-15) cut the lead to 4-3 with runners on first and third. But
“I felt great out there,” said Andros, who also pitched the Blackcats to the supersectional victory. “I was zoned in all game. … We just had to bear down at the end.”