Scott City baseball team falls short of return to Class 3 title game with loss to Mountain Grove

O'FALLON, Mo. -- With a hard-throwing pitcher on the mound and a lineup capable of wreaking havoc, there wasn't much that was going to stop the Mountain Grove baseball team.

Senior Alex Moore allowed three hits over six solid innings, and the Panthers pounded out 14 hits in a 12-1 rout of Scott City on Wednesday in a Class 3 semifinal at CarShield Field.

"That's a pretty good ball club, and he's a pretty good pitcher," Rams coach Jim May said about Moore, who's signed to play college baseball at Missouri State. "It took us the first time through before we got comfortable with it, and by that time, we were already kind of struggling a little bit.

"We made a couple fielding miscues there early on in the game, and it cost us runs. It kind of got us chasing a little bit, and they didn't. They made every play."

Mountain Grove scored in every inning except for a 1-2-3 top of the fifth.

Leadoff hitter Blaine Halford finished 3-for-5 and started the top of the first with a single before stealing second and giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead on an errant throw from third on Trey Collins' two-out, infield single.

Mountain Grove (24-5) stretched its lead to 2-0 an inning later, as No. 6 hitter Cory Allen blasted a fastball that was left over the middle to right-center for a leadoff home run.

Scott City's Drew Short forces out Mountain Grove's Conner McNew in the second inning of the Class 3 semifinal on Wednesday in O'Fallon, Missouri. LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

"I was ready to hit a strike, and he threw it right down the middle," Allen said. "It was perfect. I just hit it as hard as I could."

The Panthers broke the game open in the third with three straight singles, the third of which was a two-run single from DJ McNew. A sacrifice fly by Brock Coffman scored McNew, giving Mountain Grove a 5-0 lead. The Panthers tacked on an unearned run in the top of the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.

"It's one of those where you just put the ball into play, and we came up with a couple key hits in that inning," Mountain Grove coach Derwin McGownd said. "We just do what we can to try to take advantage of mistakes and try to win the ball game."

Moore encountered his first rough patch at the top of the order in the bottom of the fourth. Hunter Copeland led off for Scott City (22-8) with an infield single, moved to second on a balk and cut Mountain Grove's lead to 6-1 on Braden Cox's one-out double to left.

However, Moore retired the next two batters and went on to allow only one hit over the next two innings.

Moore, a 6-foot-7 hurler with a 90 mph fastball, improved to 8-2 on the season and wrapped up his outing with eight strikeouts and one walk. He threw a three-hitter and allowed only one hit.

"That's his job. He knows his role," McGownd said about Moore. "He doesn't play defense, doesn't swing the bat very often, and his main role is to just pound the strike zone. He did an excellent job doing that today."

Scott City catcher Ty Wilthong hands the ball off to relief pitcher Bryan McNeely in the seventh inning of the Rams Class 3 semifinal against Mountain Grove on Wednesday in O'Fallon, Missouri.LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

May said Moore was about what he expected but wasn't pleased with his players' approach at the plate early in the game.

"He was in the strike zone," May said. "We heard that he walks some people. He was pretty much what we thought he would be. He was going to throw the fastball, and we were too passive in the early parts of the game. We were taking strikes and getting behind 0-2, and when you take strikes and get behind against a good pitcher, you're going to struggle."

An RBI single by McNew, who went 2-for-4 with a game-high four RBIs, gave Mountain Grove a 7-1 lead in the top of the sixth before the Panthers put the game far out of reach in the final frame, during which Mountain Grove batted through the order and scored five runs on three hits and two errors.

Cade Coffman batted in the eight-hole and finished with a pair of hits for the Panthers, including an RBI single in the seventh, while Conner McNew also had two hits.

"We've had the bottom of the order come through by getting on and scoring runs for us at different points in the year. We have the leadoff side -- the 1, 2, 3 hitters -- do it, and we've had the middle of the lineup do it, too," McGownd said. "It's just one of those things where they pick each other up defensively and offensively and just do whatever we can in situations to win ball games."

Cox got the start on the mound for the Rams and was chased after giving up a walk sandwiched between a pair of hits in the top of the seventh.

He gave up 10 runs (seven earned) on 13 hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

Scott City coach Jim May walks to the dugout for the bottom of the sixth inning of the Rams Class 3 semifinal against Mountain Grove on Wednesday in O'Fallon, Missouri.LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

Bryan McNeely relieved Cox to conclude the game, allowing two unearned runs on one hit. He walked one batter.

"We knew what we were up against," May said. "They came out and played the part, and we didn't."

The Rams started the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back hits off reliever DJ McNew before a strikeout and a double play ended the game.

"They were definitely the aggressor," May said. "We were kind of on our heels early. ... We just couldn't shake it, couldn't get anything going, couldn't put anything together, but we'll come out tomorrow and hopefully do it then."

The Rams will face South Callaway in the third-place game at 10:30 a.m. today. South Callaway dropped an 11-7 decision in the second semifinal against Summit Christian Academy, which will take on the Panthers for the state title at 1:30 p.m.

It'll be Mountain Grove's first appearance in a state championship game in any sport, according to McGownd.

Senior Jordan Kluesner is one of five seniors, and he'll take the mound against South Callaway.

"These five seniors are going to go out, and we're going to send them off with a win," May said. "We're not going to lay down and just go through the motions."

Mountain Grove 113 101 5 -- 12 14 0

Scott City 000 100 0 -- 1 5 5

WP -- Alex Moore. LP -- Braden Cox. 2B -- Cox (SC). HR -- Cory Allen (MG). Multiple hits -- Mountain Grove: Blaine Halford 3-5, DJ McNew 2-4, Cade Coffman 2-4, Conner McNew 2-4.