HORNETS FAIL TO ADVANCE

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Outstanding pitching and youthful exuberance proved to be a winning combination for the Ellington Whippets.

The young, scrappy Whippets rallied for a 4-3 eight-inning win over the host Advance Hornets in a Class 1A sectional matchup Thursday afternoon.

The victory sends the Whippets (15-4) to the quarterfinal round against St. Vincent Saturday.

"They don't die," said Ellington coach Dan Hoffman of his sophomore-dominated squad. "As long as they have a bat left, they think they can get something going."

With the game deadlocked at 3-3, Jordan Hicks led off the top of the eighth inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jonathan Swyres. Then Chris Barton slapped a single into right field to drive home Hicks with the game-winner.

Advance (11-10) jumped to the early lead as it picked up three unearned runs in the third and held a 3-0 advantage going into the fifth inning, despite a 17-strikeout pitching performance by Ellington's Hicks.

The Hornets, aggressive on the basepaths, scored all their runs on only one scratch hit with the help of a wild pitch, a balk and two throwing errors by Ellington catcher Levi Cowin.

"After the second inning, I knew the kid (Hicks) was on," said Advance skipper Jim Below, after watching Hicks strike out the side in the first and second innings. "I just felt like we had to do something to be aggressive."

But Hicks, one of only two senior starters among six sophomores and a junior, didn't rattle as he shut down Advance the rest of the way. He allowed only three hits while going the distance.

Hicks (9-1), who came in with a 1.86 ERA, said of his performance, "I struck out 18 once, but never in a game of this stature."

The Hornets had one more legitimate shot at putting some insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth, but failed to capitalize on a bases-loaded situation.

Ellington began its comeback in the fifth when Advance starter Adam Rainey, who had pitched four scoreless innings on two hits allowed, suddenly couldn't find the strike zone. He walked two and hit a batter to load the bases.

Andrew Jenkins relieved and walked home a run before allowing a groundout RBI to Cowin as the Whippets narrowed the margin to 3-2.

Aaron Cantrell held the Whippets scoreless in the sixth, but Ellington tied the score in the seventh on a heroic two-out hit by Cowin.

With one out Chris Jensen hit a roller in front of the plate that was fielded by catcher Jason Bahr, who threw the ball into right field for a two-base error. Mike Russell lined out to short for the second out of the inning. Cowin then singled in the shortstop hole to score Jensen and knot the score at 3-3.

"They were a team that just put the ball in play and came up big when they needed it," said Below. "I've got to take my hat off to them."