Elsberry, Mo. – In professional baseball, playoff appearances are series of 3 to 7 games per contest. If you want to turn up the drama, try making every playoff appearance sudden death; that’s how they do it in high school ball. Every game the Elsberry Indians play is now a fight for their season, and this past Tuesday, Elsberry survived to fight another day by knocking out the Palmyra Panthers in dominant fashion, 9-3.
The box score says it all. The first two innings ended 0-0 as both teams worked to figure out the other. Elsberry pieced together a winning combination starting in the third, after which they scored in every inning onward. Aggressive base running seemed to rattle the panthers, who gave up two runs on two errors in the third. Outfielder Kyle Turnbull started the inning by reaching first on an error; he would steal second and be advanced home by a single from all-star Kaden Kinsler.Â
Kinsler would steal second himself before getting a ticket home via an RBI smack from Joel Mound. In between, Palmyra pitcher Ethan Tallman tossed one of his 4 strikeouts on the day.
Down 2-0, Palmyra displayed their ability and fight by closing the inning out with a double play. This double play was one of several good defensive efforts from the Panthers, whose ultimate downfall was untimely errors and an inability to score runs.Â
Gavin Woodson pitched like an ace for the Elsberry Indians, tossing 9 strikeouts and allowing only one run earned. He went five and two-thirds on the day before being replaced by Kinsler, who pitched relief into the seventh and closed out the game.Â
The game was a solid defensive showing for the Indians, except for two back-to-back errors in the sixth that set up Palmyra for a two-run double. More impressive was Elsberry’s ability to manufacture runs, tallying nine scores in as many hits (only one of which went for extra bases). Their victory against Palmyra moves them to the Elite Eight of the statewide class 3 tournament, where other powerhouses such as Father Tolton Regional Catholic School, Lawson High and Valley Park remain.
