Entering their first sectional tournament appearance in 21 years last Tuesday, June 9 at River Ridge High School, the Seneca Royals baseball team (17-7) looked to keep their season alive by keeping up their strong play as of late. Waiting for them in the sectional semifinal however was the no. 1 seed Potosi-Cassville Chieftains, who also entered the game with a 17-7 record this season.
Following a scoreless first inning, the Royals got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning. A leadoff walk by Hunter Hagensick was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Sawyer Swiggum that moved Hagensick from first to third base with only one out. Kaden Roberts followed that play by hitting a ground ball to third base that was misplayed for an error, allowing Hagensick to score the first run of the ball game. The Chieftains then settled down and retired each of the next two Seneca batters to end the top of the second inning.
Potosi-Cassville opened up the bottom of the second inning with a leadoff walk before adding another walk two batters later to put runners at first and second with one out. Seneca starting pitcher Sam Gallagher then got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. The next batter for P-C however delivered an RBI single to center field to tie the game at 1. Following another Potosi walk, Roberts came in to pitch and was able to induce a groundball to short for the third out of the inning.
The game remained tied until the top of the fifth inning when Jaxx Wall got things started with a one-out walk. He then moved to second base on Gage Wall’s line drive single to left field. The Royals retook the lead two batters later when Hagensick singled to left field to score Jaxx Wall and make the score 2-1 with runners at second and third. The Chieftains would escape the jam when they were able to get Swiggum to fly out to second base for the third out of the inning. The Royals quickly responded by shutting down the Chieftains in order 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Seneca once again had an opportunity to extend their lead in the top of the sixth inning. Preston Kuhnke reached base via error with one out and then advanced to second on a single by Hall. The Chieftain defense stepped up by throwing out Kuhnke at third base on a stolen base attempt for the second out of the inning before picking off Hall at second base to end the top of the sixth inning.
Those two plays would come back to haunt Seneca in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Chieftains got a leadoff double by Ben Infield that was followed by a sacrifice fly to right field by Reid Weber that allowed Infield to tag up and advance to third base on the play. P-C’s River Sahr followed with a fielder’s choice in the infield that allowed the Chieftains to tie the game up 2 to 2. Sahr then stole both second and third base before scoring the go ahead run on an infield sacrifice for a hit by teammate Logan Rausch. Roberts got a P-C strikeout for the second out of the inning before Potosi added one more run thanks to an RBI single by Chris Volez. Roberts got out of the inning by getting Alex Friederick to ground out for the third out of the inning.
Seneca entered the top of the seventh inning needing two runs to keep their season alive. Gallagher reached first base via error to lead off the inning but was stranded there following two quick fly outs and a strikeout to end the game. The Royals concluded their season with an overall record of 17-8 while Potosi-Cassville (19-7) would go on to defeat Cochrane-Fountain City 10-0 in five innings in the sectional championship game to earn their first trip to the state tournament as a co-op program.
Roberts was dealt the tough luck loss on the mound, allowing three runs on four hits and zero walks with five strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched in relief of Gallagher (one run allowed on one hit and three walks with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched).
Gage Wall led the Royals offense with two of the team’s four hits in the game. Hagensick (1-for-2 with one walk, one run scored and one RBI) and Hall (1-for-3) rounded out the Royals offense in the loss.
Seneca finishes the season with a record of 17-8, a third-place finish in the Ridge & Valley Conference and their first regional championship since 2005. They will graduate six seniors - Konichek, Gage Wall, Hagensick, Sawyer Swiggum, Hayden Alvarado and Roberts.
