NMCC wins thriller

SCOTT CITY -- Last year's sectional win set a new high water mark for the New Madrid County Central Eagles' baseball program.

It's one they continued to raise all the way to a third-place finish in state.

On Monday they showed that run was no aberration as NMCC once again advanced to the Class 3 quarterfinals with a wild 2-1 walk-off win over Scott City.

"I'm just so proud of these guys," NMCC head coach Joe McClarty said. "I don't think anybody expected us to be back here except us. That's just a testament to how hard these kids work and how much they believe in one another and in our coaching staff."

Much like freshman pitcher Palmer Campbell's performance in the district championship, it was another underclassman, sophomore Tyler Sprouse, who came up big when NMCC needed it most.

The two teams were knotted up 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh when Sprouse, hitting in the seventh spot, led off the inning with a soft blooper into left-center field that he legged into a double.

A one-out base hit from Kiel Causey put runners on the corners, leading to a meeting on a mound with leadoff hitter Dylan Milisits at the plate.

Expecting a squeeze with Milisits down in the count, Scott City pitcher Eric Urhahn decided to pitch out and his team's suspicions where confirmed when Sprouse came sprinting home.

Milisits got his bat on the high-outside pitch to foul it off while Sprouse slid into home plate, where he collided with the catcher and Milisits.

Instead of sending Sprouse back to third, however, the umpire ruled catcher's interference on the play as the catcher's glove touched the bat of Milisits. That allowed Sprouse to score, sending the Eagles into a celebration.

"If he had a slow windup we were planning to squeeze," Sprouse said. "It was just a whole lot of confusion there, but I knew I had come in safe and that we'd won."

Scott City appealed the call as the Eagles flooded the field near home plate, but weren't able to sway the home-plate umpire's opinion.

"We talked about if we maybe got down in the count -- a squeeze," McClarty said. "We called for it and unfortunately there's a catcher interference. You hate to see the game end like that, but I'm just proud of them for trying to execute it, getting in there and doing a great job."

The run capped a come-from-behind win in a game that remained scoreless through five innings as starting pitcher's Urhahn and Campbell continued to work out of jams. It was Scott City who broke through first when Isiah Berry brought in Drew Short from second base with a two-out single off Campbell in the top of the sixth.

Campbell redeemed himself at the plate by leading off the bottom of the frame with a leadoff double. He was brought in from third to tie the game when Gage Silman went after the first pitch and hit a blooper into left field.

No matter who lost, both teams had the chance to look back on missed opportunities with the Rams stranding 12 base runners to the Eagles' five. Nine of Scott City's stranded runners came in the first four innings.

Though he didn't come in until the seventh, senior Austin Godwin picked up the win with a scoreless inning in relief. He spelled Campbell, who went six full frames where he gave up a run on three hits and seven walks while striking out seven.

Between the district title game and his sectional appearance, Campbell has pitched 13 innings in the last week and given up only two runs.

With Campbell having labored through some long innings, McClarty was relieved to have Godwin available and able to throw on short notice.

"It's always nice to have a senior to close things out," he said. "We were talking earlier in the game that Palmer's pitch count had kind of gotten up. We pretty much knew he wasn't going to be able to finish it. When you get down 1-0 you're going to get beat with your best on the mound. Austin didn't even know he was going to pitch today because we were all pretty much sure that Palmer was going to throw a complete game.

"Palmer struggled finding the zone. I think he only had one inning setting them down in order. He seems to get two outs easily and struggled getting that third out, but he battled and we played great defense behind him."

On the other side, Urhahn, a senior, took a hard-luck loss despite holding the Eagles at bay most of the night. He pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits and no walks while fanning five.

"Eric didn't have his best stuff today," Scott City head coach Jim May said. "He was struggling with his command, but he battled the whole day and (senior) Zach Carlyle did a great job behind the plate. They'll both be sorely missed."

Scott City ends the year at 15-12 while NMCC improves to 13-12.

The Eagles will face St. Pius in the quarterfinals on Wednesday in Festus at 4 p.m.

Scott City 000 001 0 - 1

NMCC 000 001 1 - 2

WP -- Austin Godwin. LP -- Eric Urhahn. Multiple hitters: (S) Isiah Berry 2-4. 2B -- (N) Palmer Campbell, Tyler Sprouse.