Leopold can't hold off Naylor

CALEDONIA, Mo. -- Attempting to win their first district baseball championship since 2000, the Leopold Wildcats ran into a team that has been hard to beat in title games the past couple years.

Add another one for the Naylor Eagles.

The second-seeded Eagles broke open a scoreless game in the top of the fourth inning and led the rest of the way Wednesday afternoon for a 7-2 victory over top-seeded Leopold in the Class 1 District 3 title bout.

The title was Naylor's third consecutive. The Eagles lost their two best pitches to graduation last year, won just three games during the fall season and were slow starters this spring.

"It was really unexpected," Naylor coach Jeff Null said. "Baseball is a weird game sometimes. They were a very talented team. If you match up man-to-man, I'm not sure we matched up with them. They have a stud on the mound. But we played the best game on this day."

Leopold ace pitcher Joe Elfrink didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, but they were costly ones.

Marcus Rigdon broke up the no-hitter with a single and Aaron Graham broke up the shutout with an RBI triple. Dawson Goodrum then knocked in Graham to go up 2-0.

Naylor (9-7) scored again in the sixth inning on a balk and Leopold (14-7) got that run back in the bottom of the inning as Casey Graham doubled and then scored on an RBI single by James Jansen.

The Eagles, however, rallied for four runs in the seventh to put it away. Goodrum drew a bases loaded walk before Taylor Davis hit a 2-run double. Colby Burmeister then scored on a wild pitch.

The Wildcats threatened in the bottom of the seventh but scored just one run on an RBI infield single by Elfrink. Leopold left two runners on base to end the game.

"It was 7-2 with two men on and the 5-hole up," Leopold coach James Lewis said. "It was a 1-0 count, we should have been taking one, but we swing and hit a ground ball out."

Davis was the winning pitcher. He got the complete game with seven strikeouts, eight hits allowed and two walks.

Elfrink went all seven innings as well, striking out eight.

"In general, we actually had a really good season," Lewis said. "Anytime you double up your losses, that's a successful season. It didn't quite end the way we wanted it to, but there's a lot of teams that their season didn't end the way they wanted it to."