The Annawan-Wethersfield baseball team defeated (2) Dwight, 8-4, Wednesday in the 1A Bloomington Sectional semifinal game and will play (3) St. Bede (21-14) for the sectional title at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Bloomington.
Annawan-Wethersfield was down 2-1 after three innings of play, but the Titans put up three runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth to overtake the second-seeded Trojans.
Brody Childs helped power the Titan offense with two triples and Maddux Heitzler added another for good measure.
Koeyn DeClercq went the distance on the mound to earn the win for A-W. In seven innings of work, DeClercq struck out five and walked two, while surrendering four hits and four runs (three earned).
Luke Gallet pitched four innings in vain for Dwight. He struck out five and walked four, while giving up seven hits and eight runs (7 earned).
The Titans have now won nine of their last 10 games and improve to 19-6-1, while Dwight bows out with a record of 24-11.
Annawan-Wethersfield 8, Dwight 4
Brody Childs hit his first triple in the bottom of the second inning. Dillon Horrie then grounded out, but Childs scored on the play, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead.
The Dwight offense then went to work. With the bases loaded, Owen Dunlap hit a single and Joey Starks scored to tie the game at 1-1. Evan Cox then grounded out and Wyatt Statler scored to give the Trojans a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Titans turned their second double play of the game. Ryan Bumpous hit a grounder to Childs at first and Childs zipped the ball to second to get the out against Terry Wilkey.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Nic Thurston walked and Childs belted out his second triple of the game, plating Thurston for the tying run at 2-2. Caleb McGill followed with an RBI single, sending home Childs and taking a 3-2 lead.
Dwight pitcher Luke Gallet struck out the next two A-W batters, but Maddux Heitzler stepped up to the plate and tagged a line drive triple to center field for the Titans. McGill scored on the play, extending the lead to 4-2.
In the fifth inning, Dwight countered with a double by Statler. Gallet then grounded out to first, but Statler scored to bring the Trojans within a run at 4-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Zebulon Rashid hit a single and then stole second base. Colin Hornback then reached on an error and Rashid scored on the error, giving Annawan-Wethersfield a 5-3 lead. Hornback advanced to second on the error.
Thurston followed with a single and Hornback made it to third. Thurston then stole second base. Childs followed with an RBI single, sending home Thurston and Hornback for a score of 7-3.
Dwight made a lineup change at pitcher in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Soon after, Childs stole third and McGill was out at first on a dropped pitch, but Childs scored on the play for the final run for the Titans at 8-3.
The Trojans had two more attempts at a rally, but only mustered one run by Cox in the top of the sixth inning. DeClercq struck two batters in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh to close out the 8-4 win.
At the plate
Childs (3-3, 2 triples, 3 runs, 3 RBI). Rashid (1-2, 1 run, 2 BB). Heitzler (1-4, 1 triple, 1 RBI). Thurston (1-2, 2 runs, 1 RBI). McGill (1-3, 1 run, 2 RBI). Hornback (1 run, 1 BB). Horrie (1 RBI).
