~ The Eagles' ace led his school to its first ever sectional victory in a 7-1 win over the Rams

NEW MADRID, Mo. – No one expected this.

Spearheaded by ace pitcher Jashawn McDaniel and a newfound potent offense, the New Madrid County Central Eagles are headed to the Class 3 baseball quarterfinals for the first time after taking down visiting Scott City 7-1 on Monday in a sectional game.

The Eagles (14-14) will host St. Pius X, 14-2 winners over Brentwood, Wednesday during the quarterfinal round.

"It's amazing," NMCC senior Timmy Clayton said. "New Madrid has never been here before. It feels good to be a part of this great group of guys and to do this for the first time."

Scott City baserunner Eric Uhrhan collides with New Madrid County Central second baseman Josh Reed Monday during their Class 3 sectional baseball game in New Madrid, Mo. New Madrid won 7-1. (Chris Pobst ~ Standard Democrat)

McDaniel, who pitched a shutout against top-seeded Malden during the district championship game one week ago, continued his calm, cool demeanor on the hill Monday, allowing one earned run on four hits and three walks.

"We worked hard to get here, and I just thank God that we're here," McDaniel said. "Everybody doubted us, and that's been a fuel to our fire."

Although the senior doesn't get in a hurry while doing his work, he quickly got ahead of batters by working ahead in the count on 15 first-pitch strikes. Out of his 111 pitches, 67 of them went for strikes.

"Almost everything was working for me," McDaniel said. "I go slow. Everybody tries to speed me up, but I just try to take my time out there. Coaches always stress to get that first-pitch strike. I just try to get it as often a possible."

"We know what we're going to get when he's on the mound," NMCC coach Joseph McClarty said. "He's going to throw strikes, work ahead of hitters and mix it up."

The only real trouble McDaniel got himself into was in the sixth inning.

With two outs and runners on first and third, Scott City's Brett Dirnberger, who led the Rams with two hits, hit the Rams' only run-scoring single to make it 4-1.

Scott City (19-7), which fell to NMCC in both of their meetings this season, eventually loaded the bases but no more damage was done. McDaniel got ahead in the count to Scott City's Trent Pobst and coaxed a fly ball to end the inning.

"When he's on the mound it just feels like we're going to win every game," Clayton said about McDaniel. "I trust him."

McDaniel kept Scott City's hitters off balance with a wicked slider that had the Rams swinging over pitches in the dirt.

"Good pitchers are good pitchers because they throw all their pitches for strikes," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "We worked ahead in the count and he's got that nasty slider for a strike. He's got a good mix and he runs it up there pretty good."

As McDaniel was going, so was the Eagles' offense.

NMCC outhit Scott City 6-4 and made three Scott City errors work in its favor. The Eagles' offense also was patient at the plate, working deep into counts on nearly every plate appearance.

"We worked a lot of deep counts," McClarty said. "We tell the kids if they get behind 2-1 just start battling because you never know what's going to happen in an at-bat. Once you get into a full count you've got a good chance of winning that at-bat."

Between Scott City starter Ryan Brock – a soft-tossing righthander with a big looping curve -- and reliever Eric Urhahn, the Eagles saw 125 pitches.

"We knew Scott City was going to throw Brock," Clayton said. "Earlier today, we worked in the cage on hitting curveballs and slow pitches. We knew he wasn't going to blow it past us. I think it helped a lot this game."

Clayton, who ended up 1 for 3 with three RBIs, pushed across the game's first run in the third inning with a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield.

The Eagles tacked on another run later in the inning when an infield error with two outs allowed Tripp Keene to score to make it 2-0.

"We just put the bat on the ball," McClarty said. "We saw the Brock kid earlier in the year and his curveball gave us problems. We stressed to stay back, let the ball get deep and put the bat on the baseball. We did that and took advantage of a couple errors they made."

Austin Lynn hit another sacrifice fly to score Drew Pikey from third and a two-out, infield single by Keene allowed Lynn to score shortly after to give NMCC a four-run advantage in the fourth inning.

NMCC put the game away in the bottom of the sixth.

Following Scott City's first run of the game in the top of the sixth, Logan Frazier quickly got that run back by blasting his first career home run off the scoreboard in left-center field.

NMCC was able to work two more runners on following Frazier's solo shot and Clayton wrapped up his three RBI day with a two-run single.

"Everything's clicking for us," Clayton said. "Jashawn is on his game and our pitching has stepped up. I'm just proud of the guys because we've improved on defense too."

During the Eagles' five previous sectional trips, they came up empty. They won their first district championship since 1994 last week and on Monday they accomplished another great feat for their program. For McClarty, who unfortunately lost his grandmother on Monday as well, it's been an emotional 24 hours.

"I really don't have the words to put this in perspective," McClarty said. "I'm just so proud of the kids. To do something for the first time ever in school history, it's a great feeling."

Scott City 000 001 0 – 1 4 3

NMCC 002 203 x – 7 6 0

WP – Jashawn McDaniel. LP – Ryan Brock. HR -- Logan Frazier (NM). Multiple hitters -- Scott City: Brett Dirnberger 2-3. New Madrid: Tripp Keene 2-3. Records: Scott City 19-7, New Madrid 14-14.