Wayne County ends Charleston Fighting Squirrels' state title streak

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- In their first season of Senior Babe Ruth baseball, the Wayne County Lumberjacks have proven to be masters of late-inning heroics.

Two come-from-behind wins in the state tournament wasn't enough, and against the four-time defending state champion Charleston Fighting Squirrels, they needed a little magic and some help again.

With one out in the sixth inning and a runner on first, Ben Becker hit a soft line drive into the left-center field gap, which allowed Wayne County pinch runner Lathan Blackburn to pass second and make the turn toward third. The Squirrels tried to catch Blackburn at the bag, but he slid around the tag. Becker made a heads-up play and darted to second. Charleston tried to get Becker at second, but Charleston third baseman Wyatt Pratt's throw was off line and could not be handled by second baseman Ty Householder. Blackburn sprinted home on the throwing error and scored on a close play at the plate to give the Lumberjacks the lead for good.

Wayne County tacked on two more runs in the inning to defeat Charleston 6-3 and win the Missouri state title Saturday at Hillhouse Park.

"We got the check swing from Ben, and the runner picks me up around second like he was supposed to," Wayne County coach Jeff Null said about Blackburn. "As soon as I saw it get away from the second baseman just a little bit towards left field I thought, 'Well, we've got a chance.' I knew it was going to be close, and he would've had us had the catcher not dropped the ball. But being aggressive in a big game was what we knew we had to do."

Becker moved all the way to third on the play after an attempted cut-off throw to get him out at second went past the defenders and into center field. He came around to score one batter later on Trey McDaniel's second RBI of the night, a base hit up the middle. Becker returned to the dugout surprised and amazed at the crazy play that occurred prior to him scoring.

"I think the first thing I said to my teammates was, 'What just happened?'" Becker said with a laugh. "That was the weakest hit I could've possibly had, but when I got to first then took off for second and heard coach say to Lathan, 'Go,' I knew that we had it."

McDaniel stole second during the next at bat and moved to third on the catcher's throw which went wide before scoring on a wild pitch.

Despite scoring a bevy of runs in a 9-7 win over Potosi to advance to the championship, Charleston couldn't find an answer for Wayne County starting pitcher and soon to be Greenville senior Blakeney Kearbey in the final frame. Kearbey, who started against Potosi just two days earlier, took awhile to settle in but stayed steady as the game progressed. He allowed one hit to the final 10 batters he faced and retired the Fighting Squirrels in order in the sixth and seventh.

"That was the thing during the regular season. They nicknamed me the workhorse because I would pitch a full game and then come and pitch another three innings after that," Kearbey said. "It's either a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know yet. It might put some wear on my arm, but I just love pitching so much.

"I was thinking no matter what that my team had my back, so it was just about me keeping us in this game because the last few games we had been in we had come back in the last few innings. No one on this team gives up, so I had a lot of faith that would work in our favor again tonight as long as I did my job."

Null was hesitant to start Kearbey on such short rest and threw around the idea of saving him in case Charleston won, which would've forced a winner-take-all game today. After the win, he was happy he didn't.

"Waited till the last second," Null said about his decision on which pitcher to use. "Before I thought, 'Well, do I save him in case for tomorrow, or do I just throw everything we've got at them and see if they can handle it?' They did for awhile but he was just too good once we got the lead, and Blake is a tough pitcher, man. His stuff moves pretty good, he's got a decent curve and they just had trouble squaring him up. He probably wasn't throwing as fast, but man, he had a lot of movement today."

Kearbey allowed two earned runs on six hits in the complete-game win.

The Lumberjacks got things going in the first when McDaniel hit a leadoff single and came around to score two batters later on Trynt Tompkins' base hit, which gave them a 1-0 lead.

Charleston evened the score after Tim Fox reached on a one-out error in the second and scored three batters later on a single off the bat of Bruce Simmons.

The Squirrels added a run in each of the next two innings to take a 3-1 lead.

Chase Urhahn led off the third with a double, advanced to third on a fielder's choice and scored on Blake Wolferding's single down the left field line.

Then in the fourth, Colton Averett reached with a one-out single, stole second and came around to score on Ty Householder's groundout to the short stop.

The Lumberjacks came back in the bottom of the fourth when Kearbey helped himself with a leadoff double. Baylin Teague drew a walk to follow before Jake Dorris drove Kearbey home with a double to pull within one run.

Wayne County had a chance to tie the game and take the lead when Becker came up to bat with two outs and runners at second and third. They appeared to do just that when he hit a screaming line drive toward the right side of the infield. However, Householder leaped in the air to rob Becker of an extra-base hit and the Lumberjacks the lead.

"That was the hardest ball I hit probably all tournament," Becker said. "I was kind of frustrated after that because it would've given our team the lead. But you gotta tip your cap to the other guy. It all worked out anyways because I hit a softer one, and that just happened to be all we needed."

In the fifth, McDaniel was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. He moved to second on a fielder's choice and scored on Tompkins second RBI of the day. Tompkins finished the game 3 for 4 with two singles and a double.

Despite the outcome, both Wayne County and Charleston advanced to the Midwest Regional, which takes place in Lyons, Kansas this week. The eight-team double elimination tournament begins Friday when the Squirrels start play at noon. The Lumberjacks will follow with the nightcap at 7 p.m.

Null said the Lumberjacks will get at least one practice in before they head to Kansas.

"Right away you think of the experience our kids are going to get," the Greenville High School baseball coach said. "When we come back next year to play Class 2 ball, we ought to be a whole lot better from this experience just from competing with this level."

And while they may be inexperienced at the Senior Babe Ruth level, their chemistry is what's gotten them this far and is what they'll be riding from here on out.

"We're probably not the most talented team here one through nine, but we're more of a team," Null said. "Most of these guys have played together during the school year. They know what I expect, they already know what to do. Plus the kids from other schools have fit right in."