RUSSELLVILLE, Mo. - The Russellville Indians finally got the monkey off their back.
After losing twice to the Canton Tigers in the Class 2 state quarterfinals, the Indians finally got their revenge Wednesday. Russellville beat Canton 8-6 to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2006.
The first time the two teams met in the quarterfinals, Canton edged Russellville 8-7 in eight innings in 2013. Last year, Canton won 15-5 in six innings.
"When we got off the bus coming back from their place a year ago, even before the players got off the bus they were talking about how we want to be in that game again," Russellville coach Lucas Branson said. "We knew we were going to have the opportunity to potentially host it, because of the way the bracket flips.
"It's what we've been working toward for a full year."
Before the season, Branson said players filled out cards with their goals for the spring. Every player said they wanted to go to the Final Four.
"We had '15-5' plastered all over the weight room," said Russellville's Trent Morrow, who closed the game to get the save Wednesday. "Most of the team has sixth hour weightlifting, and when we saw '15-5' we pumped it out. We wanted to be in this game again."
Russellville (19-13) will face Mansfield (19-6), ranked No. 2 in Class 2, in the state semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Monday at CarShield Field in O'Fallon.
The Indians led 8-6 entering the top of the seventh inning, when Morrow stepped on the mound, trying to close a third straight game for Russellville. After getting a leadoff strikeout, Carson Birck and LaVion Wilson had back-to-back singles, putting the tying run on base.
Morrow got another strikeout, but Mason Wright singled up the middle and put the go-ahead run on base.
The next batter, Trey Metz, already had a bases-clearing double earlier in the game, but Morrow struck him out to end it.
"He made some incredible pitches down the stretch there," Branson said.
The score was tied at 6 heading into the bottom of the fifth. After reaching on an error, Landon Plochberger tried to go from second to third base on a groundout. The throw beat him to the bag, but the Canton third baseman couldn't handle the throw, leaving Plochberger 90 feet away as the go-ahead run.
"We've tried to be aggressive on the bases all year long," Branson said. " In that spot, that was a pretty huge play."
Two batters later, Nick Thompson hit a two-out single, scoring Plochberger to give the Indians a 7-6 lead.
"I was looking for a base hit up the middle, and that's what happened. That's all you can ask for," Thompson said.
Thompson's single was one of four RBI hits Russellville had with two outs.
"Something we've talked about a lot lately is taking advantage of our scoring opportunities," Branson said. "Early in the year, we were leaving eight, 10 or 12 guys on base every single night. When we get guys in scoring position with two outs, it's huge to come through with a hit."
Austin Roe provided insurance in the sixth with a leadoff home run to right field against Canton's Koy Smith. It was Roe's team-high sixth home run of the season and it gave Russellville a two-run cushion with three outs to go.
"We faced that same pitcher last year in this same game at their place," said Roe, who hit a two-run homer last year against Smith. " I felt comfortable up there, I knew what he had. He threw that fastball, middle away, and I just extended my hands."
Through the first three innings, there were four lead changes.
Canton scored one run in the top of the first, then Russellville answered with an RBI double by Matt Miller and an RBI single by Braden Hickey in the bottom half to lead 2-1.
In the second, the Tigers scored twice, only to give up three runs to the Indians in the bottom of the inning to make the score 5-3.
Metz's three-run double in the third made it 6-5 in favor of Canton. Russellville answered with a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Mason Stewart.
"Our kids weren't overwhelmed because of what (Canton) did offensively, and we were able to respond," Branson said.
Thompson earned the win in relief for Russellville. In 3 innings, he allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Hickey pitched the first 1 innings for the Indians and gave up three runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Morrow finished with four strikeouts in the final two innings.
Hickey and Stewart each finished with two singles, while Thompson had a single and a double for the Indians. Stewart also had two RBI.
Smith took the loss for the Tigers. He pitched the last four innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Wilson went 3-for-3, including a solo homer in the second, to lead Canton, which ended the season with a 12-9 record.
After knocking off last year's state runner-up in the quarterfinals, Russellville will have to get past defending state champion Mansfield to reach its first state championship game.
"I don't think that there's anybody that can question these kids' hearts," Branson said. "They've played with their heart on their sleeves for the last three weeks."