Westminster Boys Reach State Baseball Championship Game

"It was a great day for the hitters."

Assistant Coach Andy Benes' comments to Creve Coeur Patch by phone Friday night were true of the Wildcats' 15-9 win over the Kennett Indians in the Missouri Class 3 state semifinals in Springfield Friday afternoon earlier in the day. The same could be said for the other MSHSAA games played at Meador Park, as home runs were aplenty.

An eight run second inning included two longballs, one a three run deep shot to center by junior Tate Matheny, followed by a two run blast by junior Connor Einertson.

Starting pitcher Collin Henry gave way to Glen Calvin and later Alec Mitchell, who retired the last six batters he faced to finish out the game.

Benes credited the team's agenda all season long in trying to get quality at-bats for the Wildcats second consecutive game with a big inning. Five hitters had multiple runs batted in Friday and seven had multiple hits.

Benes said sophomore Benjamin Lovell, who battled a blister problem in his last start in the team's , would get the ball Saturday for Westminster (26-4-1). The Wildcats will face Savannah (24-2) which defeated Springfield Catholic 15-5 in a game which ended just before 11 p.m. Friday night, according to an internet broadcast of the game at www.prepcasts.com.