STE. GENEVIEVE - The top-seeded Kelly Hawks baseball team defeated No. 8 Woodland 10-6 on Monday to advance in the Class 2, District 2 Tournament at Valle High School.
Kelly (9-10) will play No. 3 St. Vincent today at 4 p.m.
Kelly trailed 3-0 to Woodland before ripping off five runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead for good.
The Hawks ended up leading 10-3 in the fifth inning.
Woodland put together one final rally in the seventh, bolstered by five Kelly errors, but it wasn't enough.
Kelly's Major Burger got the win in seven innings of work. He allowed six runs (four earned) off four hits with six walks and five strikeouts.
Woodland's Anthony Grojean was the losing pitcher in 4 1/3 innings of work.
Kelly was led by Kendal Deason's double and three RBIs with a run scored. Others were Michael Heuring (1-2, 3 RBIs, run), Burger (2-3, RBI, run), Trey Simmons (1-2, RBI, run), Todd Brucker (2-4, RBI) and Lee Ziegler (1-3, run).
"You pretty much have to play your heart out or go home at this point," said Kelly head coach John Gandt. "We have some boys that aren't ready to go home. We've had some disappointing games this season playing in the SEMO Conference. But everything seems to be coming together for us right now and this is the time to do that. I'm feeling confident at this point. But we still have some tough teams to get through with this district."
Charleston saw its season come to an end on Monday, losing 6-2 to St. Vincent in the Class 2, District 2 baseball tournament in Ste. Genevieve.
St. Vincent scored two runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, adding three more in the fifth.
The cushion was more than enough for St. Vincent ace Alex Armbruster, who struck out 12 and walked just one Charleston batter in the win.
"Our defense let us down early," said Charleston head coach Chris Stanfield.
"They had a big three-run fifth, and their guy on the hill was pretty tough. It seemed like he got better as the game went along."
Marcus Dixon was charged with the loss. In seven innings, he allowed three earned runs on nine hits and two walks. He also recorded seven strikeouts.
Charleston's offense was led by Dixon and Nelson French with two hits each. The Bluejays end the year with a record of 8-8.
"It was kind of a streaky season," said Stanfield. "We started off real slow, then put together that seven-game winning streak. We were going pretty good, then the weather hit us and we played just three games in 20 days. It took every bit of momentum we had away from us."
While the season ends on somewhat of a sour note, Stanfield sees a bright future at Charleston.
"I see quite a bit to build on," said Stanfield. "I lose five good seniors, but our entire pitching staff is back. Hopefully some of our younger kids can step in and replace those guys next year."