Here are the high school baseball sectional semifinal results around Springfield on Wednesday, June 3:
Class 2A
Pleasant Plains Sectional
No. 3 Williamsville 2, No. 1 Roxana 1 (9 innings)
The Bullets loaded the bases for the second time in extras and Sam Dukett was hit by a pitch for the walk-off win.
Peyton Casson scored the winning run after he led off the ninth by reaching on an error. Wyatt Patton also reached on an error on a subsequent bunt attempt.
Williamsville (17-15) meets Pleasant Plains (26-12) in the sectional championship on Saturday, June 6 at 11 a.m. The Bullets won the previous meeting against Plains 5-2 on April 30.
Dukett and Parker White each generated two hits. Bryson Trickey provided the game-tying RBI with a walk in the sixth inning.
Junior reliever Collin Grosenheider picked up the win in his first pitching appearance since May 9. He relieved starting pitcher Gage Ratliff in the eighth inning and quickly recovered with three consecutive outs after giving up a single.
Ratliff struck out eight and yielded one run on four hits and no walks.
No. 1 Pleasant Plains 9, No. 6 Alton Marquette 1
Drew Green drove in four runs, and Max Johnson allowed just two hits over 5 2/3 innings as the Cardinals advanced to the title game against Williamsville.
Plains led 3-0 after four innings when Landon Maisenbacher scored on a passed ball in the first and Green provided a two-run single in the fourth. Johnson allowed his only run when Alton Marquette’s Toby Eberlin drove in a run with a triple, cutting the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth.
Green then drove in two runs in the sixth with a sacrifice and two RBI triples by Maisenbacher and Andrew Potthoff highlighted a four-run seventh inning to seal it.
Johnson struck out three and walked one, while Fisk Brady struck out two and walked none in 1 1/3 innings in relief.
Class 1A
Camp Point Central Sectional
No. 1 Jacksonville Routt 6, No. 2 Abingdon-Avon 2
Routt scored four runs on Abingdon miscues in the top of the second inning, and pitcher Jacob Brown took over from there to lead the Rockets to the title game.
Jacob Brown gave up two runs in the bottom of the first when Abingdon’s Evan Hook and Carsen Slagel each had an RBI single. But that would be all he would surrender.
Routt answered in the second, putting runners on first and second with one out and an error by the Tornadoes on a grounder plated Samuel Long. Dalton Brown then scored on a passed ball to tie the game, and Anson Butcher came home on a wild pitch to give the Rockets a 3-2 advantage. Talon Thompson’s bases-loaded walk made it 4-2.
Jacob Brown added an RBI double in the third, and Butcher scored when Taegan Rives was hit by a pitch with the bags full.
Jacob Brown went the distance, striking out three, walking three and allowing seven hits and two earned runs. Long finished 2-for-4 with two runs, and Butcher doubled and scored twice.
Routt (22-12) plays No. 1 subsectional seed Monmouth United for the championship at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Monmouth United defeated second seed Mount Sterling Brown County 6-1 in the other semifinal.
Bloomington Sectional (Illinois Wesleyan)
No. 2 Lexington 3, No. 1 Mount Pulaski 1
The Minutemen scored three unanswered runs and eliminated the Hilltoppers in the semifinals.
Mount Pulaski scored the first run in the top of the third inning on a Chase Roberts base hit that plated Carter Clark, who singled to start the frame. Lexington answered when Drake Powell tripled and came home on a wild pitch to tie it 1-1. The Minutemen took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth. Braeden Barber and Drake Powell knocked in a pair of runs with run-scoring singles.
Preston Cowan had two of Mount Pulaski’s seven hits as the Hilltoppers finished 22-11. Aaron Volle was the losing pitcher in relief. He allowed three hits and two runs (one earned) with two strikeouts and no walks in 1 1/3 innings.
No. 1 Tremont 7, No. 7 Athens 1
The top-seeded Turks jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning and ended the Warriors’ season.
Tremont rapped out four hits in the bottom of the first inning that included two triples, a single and a two-run home run by Hunter Smith. They tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a two-run triple by Griffin Meeker off Athens starter Wyatt Gleason, who gave up seven hits and six earned runs with one strikeout and one walk in 3 1/3 innings.
Athens scored its lone run on an RBI double by Owen Alderman in the sixth, and the Warriors finished with three hits. Tremont’s Andrew Dawson handcuffed Athens, striking out 12 and walking one.
Greenville Sectional
No. 1 Pawnee 9, No. 3 New Athens 8 (9 innings)
Carter Morell scored the game-winning run on a walk-off single by Carson Contreras, and Pawnee rallied to advance to the title game.
Morell was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth inning. He stole second and third base to set up the win.
In its last at-bat, Pawnee tied the game in the bottom of the seventh after loading the bases with two outs, and Corbin Miller’s RBI single sent it to extra innings tied at eight runs apiece.
Pawnee trailed for most of the game, going down 5-1 in the third inning before scoring five runs to take a 6-5 lead. Hudson Wort delivered a two-run single, and Morell (2-for-4, three runs) followed with an RBI hit. Wort stole home to tie the game, and Contreras (2-for-4) added an RBI sacrifice fly.
New Athens scored twice in the fifth and once in the sixth for an 8-6 lead until Pawnee got within a run in the sixth on a base hit by Hunter Barber (2-for-4, run) to bring in Lucas Seiz (2-for-4, RBI, run).
Pawnee outhit New Athens 14-13, and Barber threw 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings for the win. He struck out three, walked two and allowed three hits.
Pawnee (23-9-1) plays No. 3 Nokomis (24-12) for the championship at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
No. 3 Nokomis 3, No. 1 Waterloo Gibault 1
Nokomis struck early and pitcher Levi German threw a complete game as Nokomis upset the top-seeded Hawks.
Nokomis put the pressure on the Hawks with two runs in the top of the first inning. Blain Goodwin walked and one batter later Izaak Doyen singled before Nolan Herpstreith drove in Goodwin with a base hit for a 1-0 lead. Carter Wexstten then singled and Doyen scored for a two-run advantage. Dylan Yeske singled and later scored on a wild pitch to add an insurance run in the fourth.
German limited Gibault to five hits, striking out eight, walking three and giving up one earned run. He got out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the sixth, striking out and turning a double play as Nokomis executed a rundown to end the inning.
Class 3A
Troy Triad Sectional
No. 1 Mascoutah 5, No. 2 Jacksonville 1
Jacksonville mustered four hits, committed three errors, and was eliminated in the semifinals.
Mascoutah grabbed a 1-0 lead after one inning on a run-scoring double by Carson Moll. Mascoutah plated another run in the second when Jackson Grindstaff singled and Mason Bennett scored on an error in the outfield.
The Crimsons cut the deficit to 2-1 on a sacrifice by Ryan Headen that scored Talan Harney in the bottom of the third. But a hit-by-pitch, a passed ball and a Jacksonville error combined with a pair of sacrifice flies culminated in four more runs for Mascoutah in the sixth.
Starting pitcher AJ Charpentier took the loss for Jacksonville, which finished 27-8. One of the five runs allowed by Charpentier was earned, and he struck out five, walked three and yielded three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Who will play for a baseball sectional title around Springfield?
Reporting by Trevor Lawrence, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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By Trevor Lawrence, Springfield State Journal-Register | USA TODAY Network
