Scott City baseball team drops 12-inning heartbreaker to Dexter

A two-out single by Dexter's Brad Potts in the bottom of the 12th inning gave his team an 8-7 victory and ended a long and dramatic opening-round game in the Class 3 District 1 baseball tournament Saturday at Notre Dame.

"It's a game of endurance and there are a lot of positive things that come away from a game like this, I guess," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "The character of your team kind of shows up, and we fought, battled."

Dexter came from two runs down in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings.

Scott City led 5-3 entering the inning, but Dexter got back-to-back hits off Scott City starter Hunter Cox, and Bearcats first baseman Alex Cliff drove both in with a one-out single.

"Hunter Cox threw an unbelievable game," Amick said. "He battled for us."

Scott City coach Lance Amick congratulates Chris Limbaugh on hitting a triple during the fourth inning of a Class 3 District 1 game against Dexter on Saturday, May 14, 2011, at Notre Dame High School. (Kristin Eberts)

Cox was relieved by junior Logan Henson, who gave up a hit before inducing two popups to end the inning.

Scott City senior Alex Eichhorn's two-out, two-run double in the top of the 10th inning gave his team a 7-5 lead, but Dexter tied the game in the bottom of the inning when a fly ball was dropped with two outs allowing two runs to score.

"We should have had the ballgame," Amick said. "[Henson] should have been the winning pitcher, but for whatever reason the powers-that-be didn't want us to make a few plays there. We're not going to point no fingers at nobody."

Dexter took an early lead by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.

After a base hit and an error, the Bearcats pushed across two runs on a fielder's choice and a wild pitch.

Scott City's Hunter Cox pitches during the first inning of a Class 3 District 1 game against Dexter on Saturday, May 14, 2011, at Notre Dame High School. (Kristin Eberts)

Scott City scored once in the second inning on an RBI single by No. 9 hitter Forrest Copeland, and the Rams took the lead an inning later.

Scott City started its half of the third with back-to-back-to-back hits, the last an RBI single by Alex Eichhorn. The Rams added another run on a Dexter error.

After adding a fifth run in the top of the fourth after a leadoff triple from Chris Limbaugh, the Rams held the lead until the bottom of the seventh inning.

Dexter loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth but scored just once on a wild pitch to cut Scott City's lead to 5-3.

After allowing two hits and a walk to start the inning, Cox struck out the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 batters in the Bearcats' lineup.

Scott City's Landon Robert dives back to second base as Dexter's Chase Young fields the throw Saturday during the fourth inning their Class 3 District 1 game at Notre Dame. Robert was safe on the play. Check out more photos at semoball.com. (Kristin Eberts)

Amick, like Dexter coach Brian Becker, had multiple arguments with umpires about calls during the game. Amick at one point questioned the legality of a Dexter bat.

"We're not going to blame officiating," Amick said. "We're not going to blame anything. The bottom line was we had a chance to win the ballgame and we didn't."

Scott City 013 100 000 200 -- 7 12 3

Dexter 200 010 200 201 -- 8 11 6

WP -- Owen Flowers. LP -- Landon Robert. 3B -- Chris Limbaugh (S). 2B -- Jimmy Dowdy (D), Bryn Hester (D). Multiple hits -- Scott City: Chris Limbaugh 2-7, Jaime Brant 2-4, Alex Eichhorn 2-5; Dexter: Chase Young 3-6, Brad Potts 2-7, Flowers 2-4.