MOKANE, Mo. - New Bloomfield senior third baseman Tyler Fennewald drove in two runs with a solo home run and a double as the top-seeded Wildcats downed No. 4 Russellville 5-1 in the Class 2, District 8 semifinals Wednesday night.
The semifinal games were moved to Mokane because of wet playing conditions at New Bloomfield. The Wildcats (17-7) - winners of six straight - will go back home to play for the District 8 title at 6 tonight.
New Bloomfield, last year's Class 2 runner-up, will clash with No. 3 seed Vienna in the championship after the Eagles edged No. 2 Linn 4-3 in Wednesday night's late semifinal. The Wildcats split their two meetings with Vienna during the regular season.
"The guys are hungry and still have goals to achieve," New Bloomfield head coach Justin Forsythe said. "They know what it's about and they've been there before. Their mindset is right.
"We're just going to play New Bloomfield baseball and put our nose in the dirt."
Fennewald went 2-for-3 to fuel the Wildcats' 10-hit attack Wednesday night. He doubled home senior shortstop Grant Nichols in the bottom of the first inning and then launched his solo shot to left with two outs in the third to make it 2-0.
Nichols - who also finished 2-for-3 - supplied an RBI double in the fourth as New Bloomfield scored its other three runs. Junior right fielder Tommy Bedsworth was 2-for-3, while junior designated hitter Robert Manning and freshman first baseman Clayton Martin were both 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Senior starter Clay Jensen gave up an earned run on seven hits to earn the complete-game win for the Wildcats. Jensen struck out four and walked one.