Eighth-inning homer sinks Scott City baseball team in Class 3 title game

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Freshman reliever Bryan McNeely was in his fourth inning of work in Tuesday's Class 3 state championship when Fatima junior Will Robertson stepped in.

It was McNeely's first time facing Robertson, the No. 3 hitter who had been intentionally walked in his last at-bat.

With the bases empty and one out in the top of the eighth inning, McNeely unleashed a fastball that was inside and a little high.

Scott City fans take in the Class 3 championship against Fatima, Tuesday, June 2, 2015 in O'Fallon, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"It's a pitch that not a lot of people hit," McNeely said. "He just squared it up good."

Robertson lifted the delivery over the 40-foot tall fence located 299 feet down the right-field line at T.R. Hughes Ballpark to give Fatima the lead and eventually a 3-2 extra-inning victory over the Rams.

"I really wish we would've won, but I don't think we have much we left out there," Scott City coach Jim May said. "We put everything we could on the field. Sometimes it's just not your day."

The Rams put two runners on in the bottom of the eighth on base hits by senior designated hitter Tyler Rogers and sophomore right fielder Dylan Keller, but a groundout to third ended the game.

That was an unfortunate theme for Scott City in the game. The Rams, who stranded nine runners, put at least one runner on in every inning but the second but scored in just one of them.

Senior Logan Vogel got the complete-game win, allowing two earned runs on nine hits. He struck out five and walked one.

"He started off with a breaking ball and the next pitch was a breaking ball," sophomore Braden Cox said. "I didn't see many fastballs today. I don't think anybody did."

Fatima went down in order just twice, in the first and seventh innings.

The Comets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when a liner glanced off the out-stretched glove of a leaping Cox at shortstop for an RBI single.

"It kind of had a funny movement on it and nicked off my glove," Cox said. "I really should have had it."

Cox assigned himself a disproportionate amount of blame for the loss, citing his fielding error with two outs an inning later. After a walk followed, Robertson hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Fatima.

Scott City tied the game in the bottom of the inning. No. 9 hitter Isiah Berry led off with a single and scored on junior Hunter Copeland's RBI double.

Scott City's Hunter Copeland makes his way to home to score in the third inning against Fatima during the Class 3 championship, Tuesday, June 2, 2015 in O'Fallon, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"I was kind of just trying to hit the ball and get Trent [Pobst] set up for an RBI, and then I ended up getting a double, so it worked out," said Copeland, who later scored on a single by junior Drew Short, who was 2 for 4 on the day.

"Drew's just that way. Drew is a big-spot player," May said. "At the end of the year you may look at the stats and think he's not the greatest on the team or whatever, but in a big spot, he always seems to come through for me. Love the kid the death. He's someone I can count on when I need him, and we needed him today and he came out just smacking the ball around. Even the outs he made were ropes, so you can't say enough about him."

Scott City had perhaps its best chance to take the lead in the fourth inning when back-to-back errors by Fatima put runners on first and second with no outs.

Sophomore Cade Hillemann hit a ball sharply to the third baseman, who tagged out catcher Ty Wilthong's courtesy runner and threw to second for a double play that left one on with two outs.

"We've got to take advantage of that," May said. "Good teams don't give you many opportunities, and when they give us one we have to be able to take advantage of it, and we didn't do. That was the turning point in the game."

He called running into the third baseman's tag a "freshman mistake."

"He's trying to do what he can do," May said. "I just told him on a ground ball he's got to run hard because there's nobody out and a runner on first, so he was doing what I told him to do. That's part of just game play."

Berry led off the bottom of the seventh with his second hit of the day, and May elected to have Cox bunt out of the lead-off spot.

Scott City's Braden Cox and Trent Pobst walk off the field after their 3-2 loss to Fatima in the Class 3 championship, Tuesday, June 2, 2015 in O Fallon, Missouri. (Glenn Landberg)

"We had to get him in scoring position," said May, calling the decision a no-brainer. "Hunter Copeland's been hitting the ball all day and Trent Pobst is one of the best hitters in the state. Braden's a great hitter, but we needed to try to get that runner to second base so we could try to score that run and end the game."

Cox got the bunt down the first-base line, but Fatima catcher Zach Hudspeth was able to pounce on it and throw to second to get Berry. Copeland followed with a pop out and Pobst flied out to right to send the game to the decisive eighth.

"I want them to always remember the enjoyment that they had because we had a lot of fun up here this week,' May said. "We talked about it before we left. I told them there's nothing given, that a lot of people think they're going to come back next year and they never make it back. We wanted to enjoy the moment and play as well as we could, and they did that.

"I'm very proud of them for that. Next year that gives us a goal to shoot for. This year we started the season, we said we wanted to get to this place, and we're here. Now we've got to find a way to get here and win it. But that's a long hill to climb."

Fatima 011 000 01 -- 3 7 2

Scott City 002 000 00 -- 2 9 1

WP -- Logan Vogel (9-1). LP -- Bryan McNeely (1-3). 2B -- Matt Temmen (F). HR -- Will Robertson (F). Multiple hits -- Fatima: Robertson 2-3, Temmen 2-4, Hunter Hennier 2-3; Scott City: Drew Short 2-4, Dylan Keller 2-4, Isiah Berry 2-4.