CALIFORNIA - It didn't take long for the Class 4 District 8 Tournament championship game to become battle of the bullpens.
Gavin Wekenborg of Blair Oaks and Max Buscher of Fatima matched each other with scoreless innings in the fourth, the fifth and the sixth. Wekenborg gave up the first run, but the Falcons came to his aid with two runs in the top of the eighth inning to finish off a 6-4 victory and the team's second straight district title.
"Both teams made mistakes, but both teams competed so hard," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "A lot of guys stepped up."
Wekenborg pitched five innings of relief for the Falcons. Aside from allowing the tying run to score in the bottom of the seventh, the Blair Oaks senior left-hander had a strong performance, striking out six while scattering three hits and walking two.
"To be honest, I was nervous the whole time," Wekenborg said. "We just finally found out how to come together. It took us a few innings, but we got it done."
Blair Oaks led 4-3 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, Fatima's Drew Hagenhoff reached first base on a dropped third strike, then Jake Boyce made it on base with a fielder's choice. Shane Verslues was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out.
"We knew Fatima wouldn't go away," DeMilia said. "They just don't."
Jake Schulte came off the bench as a pinch hitter for the Comets, hitting a ground ball to second base. Ian Nolph of Blair Oaks was able to throw the ball to second base for the force out, but Schulte made it to first base and Hagenhoff scored from third to tie the game at 4.
"He's had good plate appearances in the second half of the season," Fatima coach Tyler VanGerpen said of Schulte. "We told him for the playoffs, he's the first guy off the bench. He was mentally prepared and he did his job."
Wekenborg struck out the next batter to end the seventh, stranding the winning run at third base.
DeMilia had a quick message for his team before the start of extra innings.
"I just got them together and said, 'Let's have fun with this,'" DeMilia said. "It's a district final and there are a lot of people here, don't get tight, just keep playing.
"I don't know if that helped relax them, but I think that they just needed to hear that and just keep playing."
In the eighth, Wil Libbert led things off for Blair Oaks with a first-pitch single to right field.
"Wil's been great for us all year," DeMilia said of the Tri-County Conference player of the year. "With him leading off that inning, I felt good about that."
Buscher struck out the next batter, but Levi Haney followed with an opposite-field single to left field. Both runners advanced another base on an error in left field.
"What will go unnoticed is Wil Libbert taking the extra base on the bobble," DeMilia said. "It's just what we teach, and Wil hustles all the time."
Libbert hustled again on the next play, beating the throw home on a ground ball hit to first base by Josh Isaacs to give the Falcons a 5-4 lead.
Haney scored on Wekenborg's sacrifice fly to left field, giving Blair Oaks a two-run lead.
As the Falcons went back on the field for the bottom of the eighth, DeMilia said there was no hesitation to leave Wekenborg on the mound.
"It was his game," DeMilia said. "He's a senior, he pitched well enough and I felt good with Gavin."
Chase Plassmeyer drew a one-out walk and Gage Cunningham singled in the eighth for Fatima. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch, putting the tying run in scoring position, but Wekenborg ended the game with a strikeout looking, his third straight inning-ending strikeout.
"It was awesome," Wekenborg said. "The crowd was going wild. There's nothing better."
Blair Oaks scored the game's first run in the top of the first, as Hayden Salmons came home on Libbert's fielder's choice.
Fatima had only one hit in the second inning, but the Comets came away with three runs. Dawson Woehr scored on Buscher's double to right-center field off Cale Willson, and Buscher and Plassmeyer each scored on a wild pitch to give Fatima a 3-1 lead.
"We had good plate appearances," VanGerpen said. "Their pitcher was a little wild, but we were able to take advantage of it."
Blair Oaks answered with three runs in the third on one play. With the bases loaded and two outs, Nolph hit a two-run single to left field. Libbert went from first to third base on the hit, then scored on an errant throw to third to put the Falcons back on top 4-3.
"He's a big-game player for us, he's been starting since he was a freshman," DeMilia said of Nolph. "He's not afraid of this stage."
Neither starting pitcher made it past the fourth inning. Fatima's Evan Kliethermes was pulled after three innings, giving up four runs on four hits.
"He threw against them during the regular season, and they already had a look on him, so we weren't going to leave him in very long anyway," VanGerpen said.
Willson pitched to two batters in the fourth, leaving the game with four walks and six strikeouts for Blair Oaks.
"We had in mind that Cale could go for a while, and Gavin could finish it for us," DeMilia said.
In five innings of relief Thursday, Buscher walked one and fanned four.
At the plate, Nolph was 2-for-4 with two singles for the Falcons and Buscher was 2-for-3 with a single and a double for the Comets.
Fatima, the 10th-ranked team in Class 4, ends its season with a 16-8 record.
"Someone was going to be on the losing end," VanGerpen said. "I'm just very proud of the boys for not giving up and fighting until the last out. They didn't give in."
Blair Oaks (25-5), the No. 3 team in Class 4, will play Tuesday at Boonville (16-5) in the state sectional round.
Boonville won the District 7 Tournament championship Thursday by a score of 3-0 against Wright City.
In their regular-season meeting April 21, Blair Oaks defeated Boonville 6-2 in Wardsville.
"They're going to be a different team than we saw a few weeks ago," DeMilia said. "It's going to be a real tough game, but we'll have our guy on the mound and they'll have their guy on the mound. We'll see how the chips fall."
Note: During Thursday's game, Blair Oaks players wore green tape on their wrists to honor senior classmate Cooper Smith, who passed away last week in a car accident.