Boonville hands Hornets another painful one-run loss, this time in Class 4 semifinals

Fulton will face Aurora for third place this morning

O'FALLON - Once again, one slender run was all that separated them.

And once more, the Fulton Hornets were on the wrong side of the outcome.

This one - there's that nagging number again - proved to be the most painful and piercing.

Boonville sophomore designated hitter Avery Reardon hammered a double off the right-field wall with one out in the bottom of the seventh, chasing home senior center fielder Bryce Fuemmeler from second to send the Pirates to the Class 4 state championship with a 6-5 semifinal win over Fulton on Friday night at CarShield Field.

The setback was especially jarring for the Hornets, who dropped a pair of one-run North Central Missouri Conference losses to Boonville during the regular season. Fulton left 13 runners on base Friday night but scrapped its way back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game in the top of the seventh on junior shortstop Devin Masek's RBI fielder's choice.

"It hurts - you could see it in every one of their eyes," first-year Hornets head coach John Brinkmann said of his players. "To battle back when you know, quite frankly, you probably haven't played your best baseball and you still have a chance to win, it's a tough way to lose."

Fulton (17-10) - which had its five-game winning streak halted - will look to quickly regroup when it plays fifth-ranked Aurora (27-4) for third place at 10:30 this morning. The Houn Dawgs lost to MICDS 7-4 in the other Class 4 semifinal earlier Friday.

"I don't think it's going to take much (motivation)," Brinkmann said. "These guys play with a lot of pride and they don't think they should have lost (Friday night).

"I think they're ready to show how good they really are. I'm pretty excited about what we're going to see. I think they're going to come out with a good effort."

Top-ranked Boonville (26-5) and MICDS (20-7) will square off for the Class 4 state title at 1:30 this afternoon.

With Fulton down 5-4 and staring at its final three outs Friday night, senior pinch-hitter Jacob Hammerstone opened the top of the seventh by punching a single to left. Sophomore courtesy runner Solomon Huff came in for Hammerstone and moved to second on junior second baseman Josh Quick's sacrifice bunt.

Junior third baseman Luke Gray then reached on an error by Boonville junior shortstop Riley Lang - one of five committed by the Pirates - as Huff raced to third. Masek followed by bouncing a grounder back to Lang, who forced Gray at second while Huff sprinted home with the tying run to give the Hornets new life.

The inning ended when junior first baseman Jared Peery flied out to center.

Fulton senior starter Tristan Steffens struck out junior right fielder Makiah Waibel to start the bottom of the seventh for Boonville, but then issued consecutive walks to Fuemmeler and junior second baseman Blake Barnes. That signalled the end of Steffens' night as Brinkmann brought in junior reliever Devon Keltner.

Reardon fouled off Keltner's first pitch before launching the second one high off the wall in right. Hornets senior right fielder Trenton Clines bobbled the ricochet as Fuemmeler raced around from second and slid across the plate with the decisive run that would allow the Pirates to play for a state title.

Brinkmann and his squad were left to lament a number of missed scoring chances. Fulton stranded two runners apiece in the first, second and sixth, while leaving the bases loaded in the third and fifth.

"It's going to make it difficult to sleep," Brinkmann said. "It is hard. Guys who normally come through in that situation just couldn't find holes and just didn't get the big hit.

"We were one big hit from blowing that game open."

Trailing 3-0, the Hornets were finally able to manufacture a run in the fourth. Quick singled to left-center with one out and scored all the way from first when Gray followed with a single to right and the ball got past Waibel.

After Boonville tallied a pair of runs in the fourth to make it 5-1, Fulton came back with a run in the fifth. Junior center fielder Alec Fleetwood drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk to force home senior left fielder Zach Franklin.

Momentum started to slide the Hornets' way when they tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Clines delivered an RBI single to left with two outs and then Masek pulled off a gutsy steal of home with the bases loaded to pull Fulton within 5-4.

Masek knew that Boonville junior reliever Nick Zeitlow had a broken finger on his left, non-throwing hand. He crept his way down the third-base line and then broke for home when senior catcher Jady Reese lobbed his throw back to Zeitlow after a pitch to junior designated hitter Cameron Vititoe.

Masek slid safely across the plate ahead of Zeitlow's return throw to Reese, putting a charge into the Hornets' fans.

"Devin just looked at me and said, 'Coach, can I go home if  I get a good jump?,' and I said, 'Go for it, man,'" Brinkmann said. "As soon as he said it, I could tell that he'd been paying attention and that's that IQ that comes from playing for his dad for so long, and getting schooled the right way.

"He saw something that I'll bet 99 out of 100 guys don't see, and he took advantage of that."

Steffens (7-1) suffered the loss, but settled down after allowing three runs on four hits during a rough second inning. He surrendered the Pirates' six runs - five earned - on seven hits, struck out nine and walked two. Steffens earned a standing ovation when Brinkmann pulled him from the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

"Tristan put the team on his back and he wanted to carry us to the finish line," Brinkmann said. "He was pretty close to doing it. I'm super-proud of him."

Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or by email at [email protected].