O'FALLON, Mo. - It's a lot easier to play with the lead. Especially in the state tournament semifinals.
"Early offense is the best offense," St. Elizabeth junior Aaron Blomberg said Wednesday night after the Hornets defeated the No. 1-ranked Walnut Grove Tigers 4-2 at CarShield Field in the Class 1 semifinals.
With the win, St. Elizabeth (16-5) will face Oran (17-9) in the championship game at 1:30 p.m. today. It's the first time since 1997 the Hornets have reached the title game.
The Hornets scored three runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the contest.
"Scoring those three runs was big," St. Elizabeth coach Caleb Heckemeyer said.
Nolan Heckemeyer led off the first inning with a double for the Hornets. Blomberg followed with a walk. After a popout, Coltin Green doubled to left to make it 1-0.
After another popout, Ross Struemph hit a two-run double to left to make it 3-0.
"That was a big two-out hit the other way," Caleb Heckemeyer said. "The ball just found the ground."
The Hornets added a run in the second. Clayton Holtmeyer led off with a double and then scored on an error.
That chased Tiger starter Ryan Keith from the game in favor of ace Logan Thomazin, who the Hornets were expecting to be the starter.
Up by four runs, the Hornets went to work on keeping the Tigers in check.
"We knew we had to bear down defensively and keep them off the board," Heckemeyer said.
Blomberg got the start on the mound for St. Elizabeth. And he knew what to do with the four-run lead.
"I was just trying to keep them off-balance and let my defense work for me," he said.
While Thomazin kept the Hornets in check the rest of the night, the Tigers couldn't do much against Blomberg until late in the game.
"Aaron pitched really well," Caleb Heckemeyer said.
Blomberg worked until being pulled due to the pitch-count limit with one out in the sixth.
"We've got a lot of talented pitchers who can do the job," Blomberg said.
One of them is Dakota Kemna, who came on to get the final five outs and earn the save.
Walnut Grove got both of its runs in the sixth on a hit, two walks and a balk.
Blomberg allowed two runs on four hits and six walks while striking out nine. Kemna, who will get the start today, totaled three strikeouts.
"Dakota did a great job of shutting them down," Blomberg said.
Green had two of the five hits for the Hornets.
Thomazin gave up one hit and struck out 10 in six innings of relief.
"We've worked really hard to get to this point," Heckemeyer said. "We deserve to be here."
Oran defeated Green City 7-1 in Wednesday's first semifinal.
Walnut Grove (22-2) will play Green City (14-3) for third place at 11 a.m. today.