Rebels will play again, Knights done for the year

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

FARMINGTON — They were the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Class 3, District 2 tournament, but both the Ste. Genevieve Dragons and the Farmington Knights found formidable foes in the lower seeded teams bringing their seasons to an abrupt end in the opening round of the tournament.

Farmington went down first 7-6 to the De Soto Dragons, and Ste. Genevieve bowed out to superior pitching of the Central Rebels in a 4-0 shut-out.

Central 4, Ste. Genevieve 0

T.C. Jennings took the mound for the Rebels and that proved bad news for the Dragons. Central was never in jeopardy after they scored two runs in the third inning as Ste. Genevieve runners only reached second base three times in the game. Jennings gave up only three hits and three walks to the Dragons in pitching the entire seven innings.

The Rebels had scoring opportunities in both of the first two innings with Bryce MacBride hitting a double in the first, and Stevan Rodgers lacing the left field line just inside the bag for another double in the second.

Caleb Whitworth gave the Dragons their first scoring opportunity with a double in the second inning, but Jennings got the next batter to pop out back to the pitcher.

Whitworth’s double was just out of the reach of MacBride at the wall, and the collision of the leftfielder into the fence was heard all the way back to home plate as he fell to the ground. After the play was completed, MacBride came in for some first aid and the game was halted for a few minutes to allow him to return.

Rick Militzer walked to start the third inning and after stealing second, scored the first run on a single by the banged up MacBride. Nick Dougherty pinch ran for MacBride and would score from second on a single by Rodgers.

The Rebels played small-ball in the fifth and sixth innings. Lead-off singles by MacBride in the fifth and Dominic Petty in the sixth were both rewarded with sacrifice bunts by Andrew DeClue and Luke Baker respectively. MacBride scored on a sacrifice fly by Rodgers and Petty came in on a single by Militzer.  

The Dragons mounted a small rally in their last at-bats. A single by Cody Schmelzle, and a rare walk to Caleb Whitworth started the inning out, but Jennings struck out the next batter and got the next two to fly out to the outfield for the win.

Ste. Genevieve ends their season at 14-6. Central will play in tonight’s second semi-final game against De Soto following the Festus-North County game.

Central  002 011 0 - 4  8  1

Ste. Genevieve  000 000 0 - 0  3  2

WP- Jennings 7i 0r 3h 6k 3bb, LP- Vaeth 4 1/3i 3r 6h 2k 3bb, Whitworth 2 2/3i 1r 2h 1k 0bb 1hb.

Hitting:

Central - MacBride 3-4, Rodgers 2-3, Militzer 1-3, Jennings 1-4, Petty 1-4. 2b- MacBride, Rodgers.

Ste. Genevieve - Whitworth 1-2, Schmelzle 1-3, Roth 1-3.

De Soto 7, Farmington 6

They played nearly five innings before rain halted the game on Saturday, setting the finish for Monday night instead. Farmington had just three turns at bat to make up for a 7-3 deficit (see Sunday’s Daily Journal for details).

They made up three, with the tying one only 90 feet away, but a fly ball ended the game at 7-6 with the Dragons earning a semi-final berth, and the Knights finishing with a 12-11 season.

The game resumed with Isaac Armstrong on first base after his single before the two-day intermission. After a strike-out, De Soto’s pitcher walked the next batter on four pitches and then advanced both runners with a balk.

A ground ball by Bryan Krause allowed Armstrong to score, but the runner at second tried to advance on the throw to first and was gunned down at third for a double play to end the inning.

Both teams went down in order in the sixth and top of the seventh, bringing the game to its bottom of the seventh climax with Farmington needing at least three runs and De Soto needing three outs.

A strikeout started things the Dragons way, but a single by Alex Freund and a double by Armstrong to score Freund sent the needed momentum to Farmington’s side of the field.

Nick Baker singled to score Armstrong, and then stole second to set up the tying run in scoring position. A ground-out put Baker at third, but De Soto’s closer McCormick got Krause to fly out to end the comeback try by the Knights.