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SportsMay 17, 2011

ORAN, Mo. -- John Bohnsack admittedly didn't have his best stuff Monday. What he had was plenty good. Bohnsack fired a complete game, allowing three runs, two earned, and only three hits over the final four innings to stifle Advance and send Leopold into the Class 1 District 2 baseball semifinals with a 6-3 win...

ORAN, Mo. -- John Bohnsack admittedly didn't have his best stuff Monday.

What he had was plenty good.

Bohnsack fired a complete game, allowing three runs, two earned, and only three hits over the final four innings to stifle Advance and send Leopold into the Class 1 District 2 baseball semifinals with a 6-3 win.

"I kind of started out kind of slow a little bit," Bohnsack said. "My fastball was a little bit off, curveball was working good, and I couldn't find my changeup. I finally found it later in the game. It wasn't one of my best performances. I'd get ahead in the counts and get up 0-2 then fall back to a full count and put myself in bad situations. My boys helped me out. They got me some hits and we got a win."

Bohnsack often went to his curveball and it proved reliable. The senior fanned eight.

"He had a little trouble with his changeup early," Leopold coach James Lewis said. "He was hitting his spots. He went in and out, offspeed. That's John. He's not going to overpower you, but he's going to hit his spots. He's a sequence guy. He needs to make that pitch, then set that pitch up, then set that pitch up. The best pitch he had today was his curveball. A couple of guys kept rolling over on it."

Advance struck first despite Bohnsack's efforts.

The Hornets got on the scoreboard in the top of the second when the Wildcats committed two errors to allow a runner to score.

Advance added two more in the following inning.

Ryan Moses singled and Darren VanGennip walked to put runners on first and second with one out.

Ryndel Page lined a single to make it 2-0, and Jacob Spears added a sacrifice fly to give the Hornets a 3-0 advantage.

The Wildcats got onto the board in the bottom half of the fourth.

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Robert Brown singled and Joe Elfrink roped a double to deep left field to put runners on second and third with no outs. Lance Seiler drove them in with a one-out single up the middle to cut the lead to 3-2.

It was the first damage the Wildcats managed against the Hornets' Moses.

"We only scored in two innings," Lewis said. "That kind of shows you. He threw well, just a play here or there."

That play came in the fifth for the Wildcats.

Brown reached on a two-out single, then stole second and advanced to third on a balk.

Elfrink hit a grounder to the third baseman, who threw it away to tie the game at 3-3.

Leopold wasn't close to being finished.

Greg Davis and Seiler drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. A wild pitch brought in Elfrink, and Davis scored from second when the ball got away from the pitcher on the throw from the catcher.

A wild pitch scored Seiler to give Leopold a 6-3 lead.

Leopold will face top-ranked Oran at 4 p.m. today in the second semifinal.

Advance 012 000 0 -- 3 5 3

Leopold 000 240 x -- 6 4 3

WP -- John Bohnsack. LP -- Ryan Moses. 2B -- Joe Elfrink (L). Multiple hits -- Advance: Moses 2-3.

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