Central baseball team falls to Vianney in Class 4 quarterfinal

The Central dugout erupted when Ryan Siebert ripped a two-run double down the right-field line in the first inning Friday.

It was the perfect start for the Tigers in their Class 4 state quarterfinal.

"We've been playing from behind the last two weeks it seems like," Central coach Steve Williams said. "For us to be able to jump out to a lead, it was really good. It got us in the game. It got our crowd excited and our kids excited."

The excitement dissipated when Vianney broke out its bats in the bottom of the first.

The Golden Griffins scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to grab a lead it never relinquished. Vianney held off Central's rally to earn a 6-4 victory and a trip to the Class 4 final four.

"The one thing I think these guys know is we're going to score some runs," said Vianney coach Scott Brown, whose team also trailed in the first inning in its district final and sectional games. "We do pretty well offensively. We just try to limit things and make sure that we put ourself in position to make sure it doesn't get spread too much. So the three runs we scored in the first inning were big to come back and answer them. It sort of got us back in the game. If we don't score there, maybe we're a little bit nervous and now all of a sudden we start pressing a little bit more later on."

Vianney wasn't the only team experienced at overcoming deficits in the postseason. The Tigers trailed Sikeston in their Class 4 District 1 title game and Hillsboro in their sectional contest. So a 3-2 hole after one inning wasn't anything to freak out about.

"We wasn't too pressured because they got it in the first inning," Central senior Trey Gardner said. "We still had time to come back up. We tried to make a little run toward the sixth inning, but it wasn't enough to get the victory."

Vianney stretched its lead to 6-2 in the third inning. It opened the inning with a double and single to push across a run. Zach Knese then stepped into the box looking for one pitch from Ronnie Scott. Knese cranked Scott's first offering over the fence in right field for a two-run homer.

"First-pitch fastball," Knese said. "I had a feeling. It felt good."

Calvin Lovig replaced Scott for the fourth inning and shut down the Griffins' offense, which bought time for Central's offense.

The Tigers showed life in the sixth inning when Gardner walked to lead off and went to third on Siebert's second double of the game.

"Just get my hands back early and get ready," Siebert said. "Just try to stay on top of the ball."

Ramsey Scott, the man who came up with big hit after big hit for the Tigers in the postseason, added another one Friday. He rolled a single into left field to score Gardner, and Siebert's courtesy runner slid home after the left fielder failed to field the ball cleanly.

The Tigers entered the top of the seventh needing two runs to continue the contest. J.P. Huston walked with one out to bring the potential tying run to the plate with the heart of the order due up. But No. 2 hitter Andrew Williams lifted a fly ball to center and Gardner lined out to second to end Central's season.

"You always remember how hard we battled through every game," Gardner said. "Every game was kind of close."

Ronnie Scott suffered the loss in the final game of his high school career. He allowed all six runs and seven hits over three innings after earning the win against Hillsboro in the sectional.

"I felt pretty good coming in," Ronnie Scott said. "I felt like [my pitches] had a little pop, but having pitched Tuesday, I knew they weren't going to be as fast."

Coach Williams said he originally planned to start Andrew Williams against Vianney, but when Thursday's game was postponed until Friday, he decided to go with Ronnie Scott.

"We just felt like we had to give our horse a chance and let him have the ball and see how he could do," coach Williams said. "He had five [innings] available, and we were just going to play it by ear and see how he went inning by inning."

The Griffins outhit the Tigers 10-6, which included four extra-base hits for Vianney.

"They were a good hitting team," Ronnie Scott said. "All the batters can hit the ball and put it in play. If you made a mistake, they'd take advantage of it."

The Tigers finished the season 17-10 and one win shy of their first trip to the final four since 1994.

"It's really great making it this far because no one really thought we were going to make it past districts," Ronnie Scott said. "We did that and won our first game in sectionals and put up a pretty good game today."

The loss also marked the end of a fantastic year for some of Central's boys teams. It started in the fall with the football team winning its first playoff game since 2002 to reach the sectional round. The basketball team didn't disappoint by capturing a district title before losing to eventual state champion McCluer North in the sectional round. And finally the baseball team reached the state quarterfinal round for the first time since 2000.

"I can't say how proud I am of our kids," coach Williams said. "They battled. I don't know if you would have polled the coaches in Southeast Missouri how many people would have picked Cape Central to the quarterfinals, except for the people in our locker room. I'm not only proud of them as players, I'm proud of their effort and I'm proud of them as young men because they really, really grew up and came together."

Central 200 002 0 -- 4 6 1

Vianney 303 000 x -- 6 10 2

WP -- Aaron Bossi. LP -- Ronnie Scott. HR -- Zach Knese (V). 2B -- Ryan Siebert 2 (C), Austin Davis (C), Ryan Barnes (V), Ryan Snyder (V), Jake Walters (V). Multiple hits -- Central: Siebert 2-3; Vianney Barnes 2-3, Matt Brown 2-3, Walters 2-4. Records -- Central 17-10, Vianney 25-8.