GREENVILLE — The Effingham Flaming Hearts out-hit the Freeburg Midgets 6-5.
The only difference was that Freeburg came up with the knock-out blow — the big hit at the right time.
That was the difference between continuing the season and falling short.
The Hearts fell to the Midgets, 2-0, in a sectional semifinal of the Class 2A Greenville Sectional on Wednesday. Freeburg scored both runs in the fifth inning.
“I thought it was a competitive ball game on both sides and a pretty clean game. I thought we did a lot of things well and I thought we put the ball in play and hit it hard when we did,” head coach Curran McNeely said. “I’m proud of the group; they stayed in the game and just fought and competed all the way down to the last inning.”
Andrew Wagoner started the game with a walk. Brody Boehm then singled.
Midgets’ pitcher Cohen Merrill worked around that trouble, getting Carter Braddy to pop out and Jude Traub and Brayden Tucker to each strike out.
Freeburg worked the bases loaded in the bottom of the first.
Ryan Garland led off with a walk. Beau Breyman was then hit by a pitch before Cole Miller drew a walk.
Traub, the Hearts’ starting pitcher, then got Dane Johnson to fly out and Jonathan Barlow to strike out, ending the threat.
Merrill worked a clean inning in the second.
He hit a one-out single in the bottom of the second before Traub got Trey Tampow to strike out and Max Flack, the catcher, threw a dart to Westin Hayes to get courtesy runner Gentry Brentlinger as he was trying to swipe second base.
Wagoner hit a one-out single in the third before Boehm popped out and Braddy flew out.
Garland drew a leadoff walk in the bottom half of the frame.
Merrill worked a clean fourth inning.
Traub did the same in the bottom of the fourth.
Jacob Warner drew a two-out walk in the top of the fifth before Wagoner struck out.
Merrill singled to start the bottom of the fifth.
Tampow then laid down a sacrifice bunt before Garland struck out.
Cameron Harms then hit a single to left, scoring the first run and Breyman followed with a double, plating the second.
Merrill finished the game allowing five hits and three walks to eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.
“He was a good high school pitcher and filled up the zone,” McNeely said.
Alex Fritz followed and allowed one hit with two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning.
Traub allowed five hits, two runs and three walks to five strikeouts over six innings.
Traub worked well against the Midgets, keeping the lineup off balance and hitting spots. He also got batters to miss his fastball from time to time, too.
“They can’t catch up to his fastball because he’s good at locating the off-speed,” McNeely said.
EHS ends the season with a 22-12 record. The Hearts graduate Wagoner, Boehm, Tucker, Flack, Wyatt Hayes and Keegan Koester.