By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It took a few innings for Seneca’s offense to get going, but once that happened it didn’t take long for the Indians to score enough runs for starting pitcher Drew Sherwood.
Seneca overcame a 2-0 deficit with a 3-run fourth inning and Sherwood tossed a complete game as the top-seeded Indians earned a 7-2 win over second-seeded Aurora in the Class 4 District 11 baseball championship on Wednesday at Monett.
Seneca (21-9) won its first district championship since 2021 and advances to face Logan-Rogersville (28-7) in the sectional round on May 27.
“Two years ago we’re an extra inning away from winning it and last year we didn’t get there,” Seneca coach Chris Yust said. “This senior group especially, coming in right after our last district win and then winning five games and three of those guys starting for four years. Finally getting over that hump and winning is big.”
Early in Wednesday’s game it was Aurora (16-14) who had the momentum. The Houn’ Dawgs took a 1-0 lead in the third when Sean Creasey singled and later scored on a single by Max Holland. In the fourth, Kaden Cole led off with a double and later scored on a single by Parker Blackburn for a 2-0 lead.
Seneca, meanwhile, had advanced a runner to third base with just one out in the first inning before failing to score, then hit into an inning-ending double play in the second and went down 1-2-3 in the third.
The momentum shifted in the fourth, though.
Sherwood led off the inning with a walk and stole second and scored on a two-out single past third by Ian Heffren. Kaden Clouse followed with a soft grounder on the infield and reached safely on an error that scored Hagen Ginger. Then the Indians took a 3-2 lead when Ryan Owens singled to left to score Heffren.
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That would prove to be enough with the way Sherwood was pitching and Seneca was defending.
Sherwood retired the side in order in the fifth. In the sixth he gave up a leadoff double before coaxing Aurora into a pop out, a fly out and a foul pop out. And in the seventh he got two more pop outs and a strikeout to work around a one-out single.
Seneca added an insurance run in the fifth when Jagger Wilson singled, stole second, tagged up on a fly out and scored on Silas Ball’s groundout to third. In the sixth the Indians added three more runs for good measure. Brayden Roark hit a bases-loaded single to right that plated two runs, and Ryder Owens ended up scoring after Roark was caught in a rundown––Owens made a nifty move to avoid the tag from the catcher at home.
“We had a chance in the first inning and didn’t get the job done there,” Yust said. “A couple innings later we finally got an opportunity and took advantage of it. Once we got that lead the pressure’s on them, not us.”
Sherwood’s final line was eight hits, one walk and four strikeouts in seven innings. He didn’t allow a stolen base (Aurora was thrown out once) and the left-hander consistently had Aurora runners leaning back towards the bag when they did get on base.
“That’s Drew,” Yust said. “He’s picked off nine guys this year. He’s got a good move to first base and with runners on first we’re not real worried about that with his move. He’s done a great job all year long for us in big situations and he’s done it since his freshman year. He’s been doing it for three years now.”
Wednesday was the 14th game this season in which Seneca has allowed two or fewer runs.
“We knew we’d have to score runs today,” Aurora coach Heath Fortson said. “I said before the game we’d have to score six or seven if we want to win. I knew they were a good team, they’ve got a really good arm and we weren’t able to get to them as much as we wanted to. Unfortunately we made a few mistakes in the field to give up those big innings. They took advantage of our mistakes, it’s unfortunate but that’s how it goes.”
Seneca recorded 6 hits as a team. Ball, Heffren, Clouse and Owens each drove in 1 run and Roark had 2 RBI’s. Wilson, Sherwood, Ginger, Houchin, Heffren, Clouse and Owens each scored a run. The Indians only struck out twice.
Aurora had 9 hits with Parker Blackburn going 2-for-3 with a run driven in. Kaden Cole, Max Holland and Jayden Carpenter each recorded doubles.
“We were super competitive and we grew a lot,” Fortson said. “We started off the year like 6-8 and then finished something like 10-6 and we were getting better and better, super competitive all year. I’m super proud of the guys, we’ve got a young group. We’re losing two seniors who will leave a huge hole for us but we can build on it and carry on for sure.”
