Fulton head coach John Brinkmann believes opponents should be feeling tense and anxious in facing his Hornets as they head into district play.
Fulton went in front to stay with five runs in the bottom of the second inning and the sizzling Hornets closed out the regular season with a 9-5 win over Hallsville on Wednesday night at the high school athletic complex.
Fulton - which also swept the Indians in a doubleheader at Hallsville last Friday night - pushed its season record to 15-6. The Hornets have won 10 of their last 11 after an 8-3 home loss to Boonville on April 11 left them at the .500 mark with a 5-5 record.
"That would have been an easy point in the season to shut things down and say that we had a good run last year (fourth-place finish in Class 4)," Brinkmann said. "These guys rose to the challenge in practices and games, and put that chip back on their shoulders.
"We're a scary team right now to play."
Fulton is the No. 3 seed for the Class 4, District 8 Tournament at Marshall, in what amounts to a North Central Missouri Conference get-together. The Hornets square off against rival and No. 6 seed Mexico in the first round at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
No. 4 seed Moberly faces No. 5 Marshall in the other District 8 first-round game at 1 p.m. Saturday. Top-seeded Boonville - ranked fourth in the state - and No. 2 seed Kirksville both received first-round byes.
Fulton decisively won both meetings with Mexico during the regular season. The Hornets roughed up the Bulldogs 13-1 on April 7 in Mexico and then breezed to a 12-3 victory on May 2 in Fulton.
Brinkmann stressed that his players can't afford to think that a victory Saturday is a foregone conclusion.
"We have the arms and the bats to take it a long way, but we have to stick to the game plan and take it one game at a time," Brinkmann said. "I'm excited to see what this team can do."
Fulton tallied the game's first run Wednesday night when senior shortstop Devin Masek raced home on a passed ball with two outs in the first. The Indians, though, answered promptly with four runs in the top of the second to take a 4-1 lead.
The Hornets came right back in their half of the inning to go in front to stay. Senior left fielder Devon Keltner scored on another passed ball and senior center fielder Alec Fleetwood followed with an RBI fielder's choice to bring Fulton within 4-3.
Two batters later, Masek's RBI double tied the game and senior first baseman Jared Peery's RBI single with two outs gave the Hornets a 5-4 advantage. Senior third baseman Luke Gray then scored on a wild pitch.
Hallsville put up its other run in the fourth to make it a one-run game, but Fulton logged two runs in the fifth. Senior right fielder Devan Hudson singled home a run with two outs, stole second and third, and then scored on an error to put the Hornets up 8-5.
Fulton added its last run in the sixth when senior second baseman Josh Quick scored on a passed ball with two outs.
Masek went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored as the Hornets accumulated nine hits. Hudson was 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored once, while Keltner finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Luke Gray went 1-for-2 with a double and scored a run.
Sophomore Evan Gray - the second of five Fulton pitchers - picked up the win, scattering three hits over two scoreless innings. Evan Gray (2-0) struck out two and walked one.