Rams ride Modglin's right arm to sectional

~ No. 2 seed Scott City upended top-seeded Chaffee 4-0.

CHARLESTON -- Brian Horrell had the ultimate compliment for Scott City and junior pitcher Ryan Modglin.

"We knew we had to be close to perfect today," Horrell said after his Chaffee team fell to the Rams in the Class 2 District 2 championship game at Hillhouse Park. "And we just didn't quite get it done."

Modglin was the reason the Red Devils had so little margin for error.

The junior riding a no-hit streak was in form again Thursday, outdueling Chaffee ace Chris Hanback in a 4-0 decision.

Modglin struck out 13, including the first five outs he recorded.

He allowed just two hits, and that snapped a streak of no-hitters for the Rams in his last three starts. He had no-hit Kennett on May 1 and Kelly on May 8. On Monday, he pitched four of the five innings in the no-hit shutout of St. Vincent in the district opener.

"Ryan threw a heck of a ballgame," Rams coach Lance Amick said. "We made the plays behind him. I don't believe we had an error."

The Rams, 17-6 in Amick's first season leading the baseball program, did play perfectly on defense. With that combination of good pitching and defense, no Chaffee player reached second base.

Modglin cut down Andrew Hendrix trying to reach second on Jerrod Steger's bunt in the bottom of the fourth inning, and catcher Cody Carlyle caught Steger stealing for the second out of the frame. Shortstop Shae Simmons, who made a nice play to end the fifth inning on a grounder up the middle, ended the sixth with a bang-bang fielder's choice at second base.

That magnified Chaffee's three errors in a tight game.

Scott City scored first on a throwing error in the top of the fourth inning, bringing home Jaris Hye, who had walked to start the two-out rally.

After denying Chaffee's attempt to manufacture runs in the bottom of the fourth, the Rams struck for two more in the top of the fifth. Simmons started the rally with a hit and moved to second on a fielder's choice. With two outs, Carlyle smashed a groundball that could have been the last out but was marked down as a run-scoring hit. Rynn Eskew followed with a single. With runners at first and third, Eskew stole second. A fake throw had courtesy runner Craig Arnzen off third base but a throwing error allowed him to score.

Simmons singled again in the seventh and Carlyle drove him in for the fourth run.

"We ran the bases hard, we made the plays when we had to, we had some timely hitting," Amick said. "We didn't hit the ball as well today as we have the last two ballgames, but I can't say enough about Chaffee's pitcher."

Hanback struck out six and allowed seven hits and three walks.

Scott City will play Wednesday at South Pemiscot, which has been No. 2 in the Class 2 state poll all season.

Scott City 4, Chaffee 0

Scott City 000 120 1 -- 4 7 0

Chaffee 000 000 0 -- 0 2 3

WP -- Ryan Modglin, 8-5. LP -- Chris Hanback. Multiple hits -- Scott City, Shae Simmons 2-3; Blake Dirnberger 2-4. Records -- Scott City 17-6, Chaffee 17-10.