Sophomore center fielder Drake Gross' two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning clipped the No. 5 seed Hornets in a 3-2, season-ending Class 4, District 8 quarterfinal loss to the No. 4 Spartans on Monday afternoon.
Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms during the game's originally-scheduled start time Saturday morning forced the game to be moved to Monday.
With the contest tied at 2-all entering the bottom of the seventh, Fulton junior starter Tristan Steffens struck out Moberly senior third baseman Jarrett McCarty for the first out, but hit junior left fielder Jacob Lashley two pitches later to put the winning run aboard.
Freshman second baseman Nick Gelina lined out to Hornets second baseman Luke Gray, who tried to double up Lashley at first to end the inning. Lashley, though, was called safe, a "bang-bang play" according to Fulton head coach Darren Masek. Lashley stole second two pitches later, then scored the decisive run on Gross' RBI single to right.
The Hornets ended its season at 10-15, including three losses to Moberly. The Spartans edged Fulton 2-1 on April 16 in Moberly, then handed the Hornets a 7-3 loss in Fulton on April 28.
Steffens threw 83 pitches in a complete-game loss. He allowed three earned runs on six hits and issued one walk.
"I thought Tristan threw very well," Masek said. "He threw a lot of strikes, was ahead in the count and had a lot of good innings.
"Overall, I thought he had an outstanding game."
Steffens retired the first nine Spartan batters in a spotless first three innings. Fulton junior third baseman Trenton Clines drew a one-out walk in the top of the secondg, then moved to second on sophomore first baseman Jared Peery's groundout.
Clines advanced to third on Moberly sophomore starter Drake Davidson's wild pitch, then scored on another off-kilter offering by Davidson two pitches later.
Gray got Fulton's first hit - a double to right - on the next pitch but was stranded at second when sophomore right fielder Zach Franklin grounded out to short to end the inning.
Steffens administered his lone walk to Spartans senior shortstop Tanner Wetrich to open the fourth. Wetrich then advanced all the way to third when junior catcher John Heimann reached on an attempted sacrifice bunt and moved to second on a Steffens throwing error.
Clines threw Wetrich out at home when Davidson reached on a fielder's choice groundout that moved Heimann to third. Senior first baseman Brandon Boyer's one-out single to right drove in Heimann to square the game at 1-all.
Junior courtesy runner Kolten Hess - running for Davidson - got picked off at second for the inning's second out and Steffens halted the threat by forcing junior right fielder Tariq Kitchen to ground out to third to end the inning.
Boyer's one-out single in the sixth - Moberly's fourth straight hit in the inning - brought in Wetrich to give Moberly a 2-1 edge.
Sophomore catcher Isaiah Pani doubled to center to lead off the top of the seventh for the Hornets. Pani moved to third on Steffens' groundout, then scored the tying run when Clines singled the first pitch he saw past Wetrich.
Clines stole second, but remained there after Davidson struck out Peery and Gray to close the inning.
Clines went 1-for-2, while Gray and Pani were each 1-for-3 to account for Fulton's three hits.
"We saw a very good pitcher in Davidson," Masek said. "... (He) has very good stuff, a better-than-average fastball, has control of his off-speed pitches and we didn't hit the ball well enough to manufacture runs."
The Spartans will play the top-seeded, state-ranked Kirksville Tigers at 5 p.m. today in the semifinals. Kirksville - ranked No. 5 in Class 4 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association - received a first-round bye.