Sullivan Eagles Baseball Wins District Championship
The Sullivan Eagles baseball team won the Class 4 District 4 championship. The Eagles’ hard work paid off this year with a championship win.
Sullivan continued their championship run at the MSHSAA Class 4 sectionals game at John Burroughs school on Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. See next week’s issue of the Sullivan Independent News for the results of the sectionals game against John Burroughs.
Salem
The Eagles surged past the first game in the district tournament in excellent fashion. Sullivan outscored the Tigers by six runs. Cambrian Koch was a superstar on the mound and struck out Salem eight times, only giving up five hits the whole game. Sullivan slayed Salem, 8-2.
In the first inning, the Eagles drew first blood with two runners crossing home plate. After an out, Gavin Schmidt hit a fly ball double to center. Chase Blue scored Schmidt when he hit a fly ball triple to center. Dayton Skaggs scored Blue on a successful sacrifice fly to right.
In the third inning, Salem tied up the game. The Eagles broke the tie at the bottom of the inning and took the lead again by two. The Eagles started on a two out rally when Blue landed on an error. Skaggs slammed a homerun and brought in him and Blue.
In the fourth inning, Sullivan tallied two more runs. Seth Valley hit a line drive to right and landed on first. Salem grabbed a double play, but Nolan Ulrich was walked right after. Jordan Rice walked right after, and Koch loaded the bases when he landed on a line drive to left. Schmidt blasted a hard ground ball to left and scored two more runs.
In the fifth inning, the Eagles secured the win with two more runs. Skaggs landed on an error and Lucas Parsons walked right after him. Valley singled on a bunt to first and loaded the bases. Dillon Parker walked and a runner reached home plate. Ulrich grounded into a double play, but Valley still came home one last time.
St. James
The Eagles were incredibly motivated from their previous win. Sullivan slayed St. James with their much-needed momentum to win the district championship. The boys tallied way more runs during this game then they did during the first round of the tournament. The Eagles surged past the Tigers, 16-5.
In the first inning, the Eagles drew first blood right away with three runs. Cambrian Koch singled on a ground ball to center before being caught stealing. Schmidt then singled on a line drive to left. Blue had been unstoppable all season and proved it once again when he hit a fly ball double to left. Schmidt scored on the throw and Blue advanced to third on the same throw. Blue scored on an error made by the catcher and Skaggs landed on the same error. Valley hit a fly ball single and Skaggs scored when Ulrich hit a fly ball single to center.
In the second inning, St. James added two runs, but Sullivan widened the gap farther when they tallied four more runs. After an out, Koch singled on a line drive to left. Schmidt hit a hard ground ball to center. Blue then delivered again with a fly ball to center that scored the runners and landed him on second. Skaggs landed on an error made by the first baseman, then stole second before Valley hit a fly ball to right field. Skaggs scored on the throw and Blue scored on the hit by Valley.
In the third inning, the Eagles added another run to their already huge margin over St. James. After an out, Rice landed on a double. The run was scored when Koch delivered on a line drive single to left.
In the fourth inning, the boys secured the championship when they tallied eight more runs. Valley singled on a ground ball and Parker was struck by a pitch. Ulrich hit a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners before Rice blasted a huge home run to score them. Alex Toews landed a fly ball to center before Koch was walked. Schmidt hit a fly ball double and scored Toews. Blue hit a pop fly single and scored Koch with Schmidt advancing to third. Blue stole second before Skaggs hit a pop fly and scored Blue. Schmidt crossed the plate for the last time when the St. James pitcher was called on a balk.