Fifth-seeded South Central scored twice in the top of the eight inning and held on for a 5-3 win over top-seeded St. Anthony in the semifinals of the National Trail Conference Baseball Tournament in Effingham on Wednesday. With both teams going scoreless and hitless in the first two innings, the Cougars’ Sebastian Kruger got the first hit of the game with a leadoff single in the top of the third inning and then moved over to second base on a passed ball. With one out in the inning, Jordan Smith singled to put runners at the corners and Luke Shumate followed with South Central’s third hit of the inning to score Kruger for a 1-0 Cougars lead and runners still at first and second with just one out. With Aiden Hoover at the plate, Smith stole third and then scored two pitches later on a wild pitch while Shumate moved to second base to be in scoring position but a fly out ended the inning as South Central held the 2-0 lead. Cougars starting pitcher Garret Shumate got the Bulldogs to ground out twice and line out once in the bottom half of the inning to end the third with South Central still leading 2-0. The Cougars put one runner on in the top of the fourth inning but the runner was stranded on base. St. Anthony also stranded a runner on base to end their half inning as the 2-0 South Central lead remained in place at the end of the inning. The Cougars had the side retired in the top of the fifth inning and St. Anthony struck in the bottom half with a leadoff walk and a single to left field putting runners at first and second for the Bulldogs with no outs but South Central escaped the inning with a double play and a groundout to continue holding their 2-0 lead. Neither team was able to do anything with their baserunners in the fourth and fifth innings, as the Cougars clung to their 2-0 lead. St. Anthony put some offense together in the bottom of the sixth inning though and strung together a series of three hits, and a pair of walks to put two runs on the scoreboard and tie the game a 2-2. South Central responded in the top of the seventh inning as Colton Tockstein led off the inning with a walk, G. Shumate singled to right field and then Kruger reached base on an error that allowed Tockstein to score and give the Cougars the lead back, 3-2. The Bulldogs were able to respond as well though with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game up once again, 3-3, and send the game to extra innings. South Central sandwiched their first out of the inning with a pair of walk to have runners at first and second before G. Shumate doubled to center field to score one run and after stealing third, Shumate scored on a single by Eli Hiestand as the Cougars went up 5-3 midway through the inning. St. Anthony put runners at the corners with two outs before a hit batter loaded the bases for the Bulldogs. Ryker Dodson, who had come in to pitch for the Cougars in relief, got out of the jam though getting the St. Anthony batter to fly out and end the game as South Central beat St. Anthony 5-3 and punched their ticket to the Championship game. Garrett Shumate had a big game for the Cougars as he went 3-4 at the plate with a run scored and a RBI while also pitching 7 1/3 innings for South Central giving up just two earned runs. South Central will face Windsor/Stew-Stras in the Championship game on Saturday at Noon at Brownstown High School.
South Central Offense:
Luke Shumate – 1-4, RBI
Aiden Hoover – BB
Ryker Dodson – BB
Landon Lotz – R
Colton Tockstein – 2 BB, R
Garret Shumate – 3-4, R, RBI
Sebastian Kruger – 1-4, R
Eli Hiestand – 1-4, RBI
Jordan Smith – 2-4, R
South Central Pitching:
Garrett Shumate – 7.1 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 6 H, 8 BB, 2 K
Ryker Dodson – 0.2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K
Comments