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Hornets Complete Shutout Victory, Advance To District Finals

The Chillicothe Hornets baseball team faced Lafayette in the Class 4 District 16 semifinal on Tuesday night from Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. Chillicothe earned the one seed and a bye to the semifinal while Lafayette as the 4 seed had to win an opening round game against Cameron to advance to this contest. However, it was Lafayette who held the series lead on the season 2-1 including a victory in the conference matchup over the Hornets.

 

Chillicothe executed to near perfection defensively. Senior Koby Wagers drew the assignment on the mound and he was excellent all night. Wagers pitched six innings and allowed just two hits compared to six strikeouts. In the bottom of the 2nd, still scoreless with two outs, Cooper Robinson connected on a single, then advanced to 2nd before Sammy Rodenberg hit him home on a single to open the scoring for the Hornets.

 

Two innings later in the bottom of the 4th, and Chillicothe leading 1-0, Robinson stepped back to the plate and conjured up another two out rally with a single. This time it was a Lafayette error, allowing Christian Still on at first, that scored Robinson and the two out rally wasn’t done yet. With the bases loaded, Koby Wagers delivered a ground ball single to score a pair of runs. Then the Hornets loaded the bases yet again, and Howie Donoho hit a ground ball into the gap for a single adding two more runs to the rally. Chillicothe totaled 5 runs in the 4th and were ahead 6-0 with three frames to play.

 

Wagers continued his dominance pitching as Lafayette never had more than one baserunner at any given point in the game. Chillicothe went into the 7th inning still up 6-0 and junior Hubby Ralls stepped up to close the game out. Ralls did not allow a baserunner and concluded with back to back strikeouts in the dominant defensive display.

 

Chillicothe’s 6-0 win moves the Hornets to Wednesday’s district championship game where the top seed will face number two seed Savannah who beat Maryville 5-4 in the other semifinal. Chillicothe is back in their first baseball district championship since 2021, and only their third in the last 20 years. Coach Troy Figg and the Hornets will be looking for the third district championship in program history.