St. Anthony, South Central Advance To Title Game

Effingham St. Anthony and South Central took close victories Thursday evening to advance to the championship game of the National Trail Conference Baseball Tournament.

St. Anthony 2, Stewardson-Strasburg 1

The two teams went scoreless through three innings before St. Anthony lit up the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the fourth. St. Anthony pushed that lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning.

Stew-Stras battled back, scoring a run in the top of the seventh, but fell short.

Gardewine picked up the pitching win allowing three hits, four walks and striking out nine. Hecht got the save.

Both teams had three hits each. Williams led St. Anthony with two hits while Hoelscher provided the other hit and drove in a run. The other RBI came from Niebrugge.

Stew-Stras had single hits by Theis, Fulk and Bugger.

St. Anthony faces South Central today, weather permitting, at 7 p.m. at St. Elmo. Stew-Stras will take on Neoga at 4 p.m. at St. Elmo for third place.

At Evergreen Hollow Park

Stew-Stras        000  000  1  --  1-3

St. Anthony       000  101  0  --  2-3

WP -- Gardewine. S -- Hecht. LP -- Jones.

Stew-Stras -- Theis, 1 hit; Fulk, 1 hit; Bugger, 1 hit

St. Anthony -- Williams, 2 hits; Heolscher, 1 hit, 1  RBI; Niebrugge, 1 RBI

South Central 10, Neoga 9

South  Central took the early lead with two runs in the first, second and third innings. But Neoga battled back and led 9-6 after five innings. The Cougars then tallied two in the sixth and scored the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh.

South Central banged out a whopping 16 hits in the contest led by Kyle Bray with three singles, one the game winning hit in the bottom of the seventh. He finished with three RBI. Noah Powless had three singles and an RBI while Dylan Smith had a single and a double and Shawn Meyer a single and a two-run homer in the third.

Neoga was led by Albion with two singles and a grand slam in the fifth for four RBI. Yurs had a single, double and an RBI.

The Cougars (9-0) face St. Anthony at 7 p.m. today, weather permitting, in the championship game at St. Elmo. Neoga drops into the third place game against Stew-Stras at 4 p.m. today at St. Elmo.

At Kinmundy

Neoga                    003  060  0  --     9-  8-3

South Central        222  002  2  --  10-16-3

WP -- Powless. LP -- Romack.

Neoga -- Albion, 2 singles, home run (fifth, three on), 4 RBI; Yurs, single, double, 1 RBI; Moore, 2 singles

South Central -- Powless, 3 singles, 1 RBI; Bray, 3 singles, 3 RBI; Smith, single, double; Meyer, single, home run (third, one on), 2 RBI; Tharp, 2 singles

Consolation Bracket

Dieterich 9, Altamont 1

Altamont was the early leader, scoring a run in the first. But Dieterich came back to knot the score in the second then had an eight-run seventh to put the game away.

Tanner Traub picked up the pitching win on a one-hitter with seven walks and seven strikeouts.

Dieterich had three hits, all singles by Brandon Westjohn, Trenton Poe and Jake Bohnhoff. Traub, Westjohn, Poe and Claytom Campton had an RBI each while Cole Hartke had two.

Altamont's lone hit came from Austin Finn with a single.

Dieterich advances to face St. Elmo for the consolation championship today at 4 p.m., weather permitting.

At Altamont

Dieterich        010  000  8  --  9-3-3

Altamont       100  000  0  --  1-1-6

WP -- Traub. LP -- Ziegler.

Dieterich -- Traub, 1 RBI; Westjohn, single, 1 RBI; Poe, single, 1 RBI; Bohnhoff, single; Hartke, 2 RBI; Campton, 1 RBI

Altamont -- Finn, single

St. Elmo 6, Windsor 3

WIndsor edged out to a 1-0 first inning lead but St. Elmo came back with two in the fifth. Wiindsor tied in the sixth and the game went into extra innings.

The Eagles retaliated with four in the top of the eighth. Windsor's comeback in the bottom of the frame fell short.

St. Elmo had only three hits in the game. Connor Beasley had a double and two RBI. Windsor had six hits led by Stremming and Allen with a single and a double each. Windsor drops to 6-11.

St. Elmo improves to 9-10 and will face Dieterich today for the consolation champoinship, weather permitting, at 4 p.m.

At Windsor

St. Elmo        000  020  04  --  6-3-2

Windsor        100  001  01  --  3-6-1

WP -- Beasley. LP -- Leasher.

St. Elmo -- Beasley, double, 2 RBI; Bartels, single; Davis, 1 RBI; Bauer, single, 1 RBI

Windsor -- Stremming, single, double; Allen, single, double; Wright, single; Smith, double