RUSSELLVILLE - Everything came together Thursday for the Capital City Cavaliers.
They hit the ball hard and deep into the outfield to keep the line moving and spread out pitching duties to keep guys available for the rest of the Russellville Tournament.
"It worked out perfectly," Capital City coach Brett Skinner said after a 15-5 win in five innings against the School of the Osage Indians.
The Indians struck first with Connor Arrowood's two-run home run to center field, but that 2-0 lead wasn't near enough against the Cavaliers.
Capital City nearly batted around twice in the second inning, recording six of its nine hits and scoring 12 runs as 16 Cavaliers stepped into the batter's box.
The game was knotted at 2 after Carlos Ayala's fly ball to right field one-hopped to the fence for a triple, driving in one of his three RBI.
"They're putting barrels on it and they're hitting it hard to make their defense make plays," Skinner said after the Cavaliers scored a season-high. " I think some guys are now getting some confidence."
Justin Sullens later cleared the bases with a double to deep left-center field on the first pitch of the at-bat.
"Justin's hitting the ball really well," Skinner said. "In the JV games he's spraying it all over the place. He's been getting a shot at the varsity level and has shown flashes. He's pretty deadly down there in the 9-hole."
Seven Cavaliers had at least one hit, including Taggert Bodenstab and Brett Kuebler each finishing with a pair of singles.
Trey Jennings, Caydin Engelbrecht, Hayden Carroll and Grayson Jones split up the mound time for the Cavaliers, with Jones retiring the side in order with two pop outs and a groundout in the fifth.
"Just getting ahead," Skinner said of Jones. "He hadn't thrown for a while so we wanted to get him in there and just throw fastballs and let the defense make plays."
Capital City shortstop Noah Nicklas tracked down the first pop-up in shallow center field and made an over-the-shoulder catch.
"He's fun to watch," Skinner said. "Only a freshman, so it's going to be fun watching him for four years. He wants to make plays."
Capital City (3-10) will take a three-game winning streak into Saturday's tournament semifinal game against Russellville. Game time is scheduled for 9 a.m.
Russellville, ranked No. 5 in Class 2 by the Missouri Baseball Coaches Association, defeated Fayette 15-0 in three innings Thursday.
"Russellville is going to be a good test for us," Skinner said. "We're gonna have to do the little things right. You make little mistakes they're going to take advantage of it."
The championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the third-place game is set for a 4:30 p.m. start Saturday.
Osage (7-9) defeated Fayette 16-2 in six innings in the loser's bracket semifinals Thursday to advance to the fifth-place game, which will be played at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at California High School.