MOKANE -- The fourth-seeded North Callaway Thunderbirds shut out the fifth-seeded Missouri Military Academy Colonels 4-0 in the Class 3 District 7 tournament opening round Friday at South Callaway's baseball field.
The Thunderbirds scored one in the first, two in the second and one in the third.
Keaton Bell (4-0) earned the complete-game win for North Callaway, giving him the team-high in victories for the season. He allowed no runs on three hits and no walks while striking out eight in seven innings.
At the plate, the Thunderbirds' Carter Moore went 2-3 with an RBI, Bradyn O'Neal 1-2 with a double and two steals and Kyle Pennell 1-2 with a double and an RBI sacrifice fly.
With the result, North Callaway improved to 15-8, while Missouri Military Academy ended its season 9-9. The last time the Thunderbirds won at least 15 games happened in Missouri Tiger standout Zach Lavy's senior season (2012), when they went 19-5 and lost 4-3 to Blair Oaks in the Class 3 District 8 championship.
"Great way to start district play against a good MMA team," North Callaway coach Zeth Lavy said. "We were able to get some early runs across, and our defense and pitching did another really good job."
No. 4 seed North Callaway will face top-seeded host, Class 3 No. 5 South Callaway (19-7) at 4 p.m. Monday in Mokane. In their first meeting this season, South Callaway beat North Callaway 12-4 on March 22 in Mokane.