The Fulton Hornets put together a strong performance against a possible district opponent.
Fulton collected 15 hits as it closed out the regular season with a 17-7 North Central Missouri Conference rampage over the Kirksville Tigers on Tuesday night at the high school athletic complex. The game ended on the 10-run rule after six innings.
The Hornets (13-9, 7-5 NCMC) are the host and No. 3 seed for the Class 4, District 8 Tournament, while the Tigers are the top seed. The two teams could face each other for the District 8 title next Tuesday night.
"We didn't pitch our best today, but that's gonna happen every now and then," Fulton head coach John Brinkmann said. "It's always good to beat a team you could see in district finals. With them being the one seed, we have a pretty good chance to play them. It's nice to be able to show them what we could do."
The Hornets took the lead with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Junior second baseman Luke Gray led off with a double to right and advanced to third on a groundout by junior shortstop Devin Masek. Gray scored on a groundout by junior first baseman Jared Peery.
Fulton then took control by breaking out for seven runs in the second. Junior catcher Isaiah Pani began the inning with a single to center and sophomore Solomon Huff went in as a courtesy runner. Senior right fielder Trenton Clines hit a double to center to advance Solomon to third.
Junior designated hitter Sabin Cassidy ripped a single to center to score Huff and senior third baseman Jacob Hammerstone was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat. Clines and Cassidy both scored to make it 4-0 when junior center fielder Josh Quick was safe on an error. Quick stole second and Gray drove in Hammerstone with a sacrifice fly to left.
Masek drew a walk in the next at-bat and executed a double-steal with Quick. Peery delivered a double to center to score both runners to increase Fulton's lead to 7-0. Senior left fielder Zach Franklin moved Peery to third with a single to left.
Pani was safe on a fielder's choice when Peery was tagged out at home and Franklin went to third. Huff went in as a courtesy runner for Pani again and Clines followed with a single to right to bring home Franklin.
"It was good," Brinkmann said of the Hornets' outburst at the plate. "I was happy how after at-bats, the guys were coming in and letting their teammates know, 'Hey, this is what he's got, this is where he's pitching, this is what you need to look for.'
"Those are the things we need to do - that's the team baseball aspect we've been striving for all year and hopefully we build this into a nice little postseason run."
Both teams added a run in the third and Kirksville tallied four in the fourth to cut Fulton's lead to 9-5. The Hornets responded by producing six runs in their half of the inning to stretch their advantage to 15-5.
The Tigers came up with two runs in the fifth, but Fulton tallied a run in the bottom of the inning and added one more in the sixth to close out the win.
"They (Kirksville) picked it up, but our guys weren't going to let themselves get down today," Brinkmann said. "They wanted to prove a point and they did."
Peery led the Hornets by going 3-for-5 with a double, four RBI and a run scored. Gray was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored, while Clines went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and scored once. Cassidy finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored and Quick went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and scored three times.
Junior starter Taylor Nelson (3-1) - the first of three Fulton pitchers - earned the victory. Nelson allowed an earned run on one hit and struck out five in two innings of work.
The Hornets will clash with the No. 2 seed Mexico Bulldogs in the District 8 semifinals at 3 p.m. Saturday at the high school athletic complex. Fulton won two of three meetings with Mexico during the regular season.
"It's going to be a hard-fought game," Brinkmann said. "It's going to be a close one like it has been all year when we've played them. I don't see one team blowing the other one out and it's going to take a lot of fundamental baseball to win.
"Hopefully, if we put it all together we'll come out with a win."