Charleston's first bid to win title foiled by Boonville

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- If the Charleston Fighting Squirrels are going to defend their Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state tournament title they're going to have to pull it off tonight.

The Squirrels suffered their first loss in the state tournament with a 9-3 loss to Boonville on Tuesday night, which forced a winner-take-all game at 5:30 p.m. today at Hillhouse Park.

I just told the guys, 'Today is over. Today's done. We've got a one-game playoff to go to North Dakota,'" Charleston coach Michael Minner said. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. We're still in good shape."

Boonville, which lost to the Squirrels 9-5 on Saturday and fought its way back in the loser's bracket, scored in each of the first four innings and held a 4-0 lead after three innings.

The Fighting Squirrels finally got on the board in the top of the fourth on a two-run double by Colton Hampton to cut Boonville's lead in half, but a Boonville run in the bottom of the inning made it 5-2.

Charleston had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the sixth, but a groundout ended the threat.

Josh Judd picked up the win on the mound for Boonville. He pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on six hits.

"Their kid was tremendous tonight," Minner said. "The kid threw four innings against us the other night, threw in relief last night and then he throws seven innings tonight. He's got to be gassed, but he was tremendous. He made big pitch after big pitch. He got better as he went along. He just owned us tonight, that's what that boils down to."

Boonville scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game out of reach. The Squirrels mustered one in the top of the seventh.

Charleston starting pitcher Jason Mattison took the loss on the mound. He allowed five runs on five hits in five innings of work. He had five strikeouts and walked two.

Chaffee graduate Layton Tenkhoff faced five batters in the sixth inning and did not record an out before being relieved by Chance Manness.

Charleston, which has won the state tournament six times in the last seven years, fell to 34-16 with the loss. The winner of tonight's game will advance to the the Midwest Plains Regional in Dickinson, North Dakota.

"We expect better," Minner said. "We expect to play better tomorrow and that's part of the game. Win or lose, I'm proud of these guys, but you'll see a better product tomorrow. And we've just got to put this one behind us and go to work."

Charleston 000

200 1

-- 3

6 4

Boonville

121 104

x --

9 8

2

WP -- Josh Judd. LP -- Jason Mattison. 2B -- Colton Hampton (C). Dalton Bealmer (B). Multiple hits -- Charleston: Luke Haines 2-3. Boonville: Jalen Poindexter 2-4, Zach Nixon 2-3.