The North Callaway Thunderbirds used an early cushion to fend off the surging New Bloomfield Wildcats and take some momentum of their own into district play.
New Bloomfield finished with a 9-7 hitting edge, but it was North Callaway that came away with an 8-4 triumph in both teams' regular-season finale Tuesday night.
Senior first baseman Michael Early slapped a one-out double in the bottom of the second inning, driving in senior starter Brandon Hagedorn and sophomore second baseman AJ Stubblefield to give North Callaway (9-13) the early edge. Early then scored when senior right fielder Zach McCowan reached on an error to put the Thunderbirds up 3-0.
Sophomore catcher Wyatt Branson led off North Callaway's half of the third with a home run to left. Early doubled home Hagedorn with two outs to make it 5-0.
Senior left fielder Sam Niedergerke and junior shortstop Grant Nichols hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth for New Bloomfield (11-8).
Both Niedergerke and Nichols advanced a base on a wild pitch, then scored on junior third baseman Tyler Fennewald's one-out single to trim the Thunderbirds' lead to 5-2. Junior second baseman Clay Jensen singled home Fennewald and junior center fielder Brady Wiler with two outs to draw the Wildcats within a run.
"We got fastballs, we worked some counts and got into some good hitting counts and things worked for us," New Bloomfield head coach Justin Forsythe said.
North Callaway got a run back in the fifth on senior third baseman Trevor Crisp's RBI single and sophomore shortstop J.T. Higgins' RBI groundout in the sixth extended the lead to 7-4. North Callaway finished its scoring later in the inning when Wyatt Branson's RBI double brought home his older brother, senior left fielder Cole Branson.
Hagedorn (2-6) allowed four earned runs on seven hits in four innings to pick up the win. He struck out four and walked none.
Early, Hagedorn and Wyatt Branson all finished 2-for-4 for the Thunderbirds.
"The last two games, we've played North Callaway baseball," head coach Kevin O'Neal said. "They played good baseball against a good New Bloomfield team.
"It's a good way to end the regular season and head into districts."
Fennewald took the loss in three innings. He allowed five runs -four earned - on five hits, struck out one, issued a walk and hit a batter.
Jensen and senior first baseman Boyd Kempker both went 2-for-3 to pace the Wildcats. Niedergerke was 2-for-4, while Fennewald finished 1-for-4.
North Callaway held on to win the junior varsity game 2-1. The Thunderbirds finished their season at 10-5, while New Bloomfield ended at 6-3-2.
Both teams open district play Saturday morning.
The Wildcats - the No. 3 seed and host school in Class 2, District 8 - play the No. 6 Russellville Indians at 10 a.m. New Bloomfield blasted the Indians 13-4 at home on May 4.
"... We're not impressed with how we've played the last few games," Forsythe said. "Our boys are hungry; we got a lot of goals we want to accomplish and we can start that on Saturday."
North Callaway - the No. 3 seed in Class 3, District 8 - squares off against the No. 6 Centralia Panthers at 12:30 p.m. in Hallsville.