Hampshire secures milestone victory

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On the mound and at the plate, Hampshire's Ryan Burke continues to come up big for the Whip-Purs.

Having already gone 4-for-4 at the dish with two RBIs and two runs scored while playing shortstop, the sophomore was called upon late in Wednesday's semifinal of the Byron Class 2A Sectional against Milledgeville.

With the third-seeded Whip-Purs trying to protect a two-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, Burke came in for Hampshire starter Kent Larson with inherited runners on first and third and no outs. And after getting the first two batters to ground out to him, Burke struck out the final batter looking on a sharp breaking ball with the tying run at second, giving Hampshire the 7-5 win and its first-ever trip to a sectional championship game.

"Going into that last inning we knew we had to shut them down and buckle down and we ended up doing it," Burke said. "If I throw strikes it's hard for them to hit it good and get on base. I just try to go in there and shut them down."

Even with the milestone win, Hampshire coach Steve Ream knows the game shouldn't have been that close in the first place. The Whips pounded out 15 hits but left 13 runners on base, and in each inning runners were stranded in scoring position.

"That's my biggest fear in any game, that when we leave guys on, we don't get that two-out base hit or whatever, that it's always gonna come back to haunt us and it almost did today," Ream said. "We were cruising for a while and I think when that happens sometimes you relax."

Just like they did in the regional championship win over Stillman Valley, the Whips (17-13) scored early and often. After a bases-loaded walk to junior Joe Moore plated the first run, Hampshire took a 2-0 lead in its half of the first inning on a James Goebbert hard-hit ball that the Milledgeville third baseman couldn't handle.

The Missiles (15-5) made it 2-1 in the bottom half but didn't score again until the sixth inning. Hampshire opened the game up in the second inning by plating four runs off of Missiles starter Kirk Engelkens to make it 6-1. Burke, Zach Crinigan, Matt Kuefner and Moore each had a hit and an RBI in the inning.

Milledgeville made it a game again in the top of the sixth by plating four runs off of Larson, two of which were earned. But Larson (6-2), who went six innings-plus and gave up three earned runs with six strikeouts, got the final out of the sixth by inducing a flyout with the tying run at second.

"Our team really came through," Larson said. "I just wish I could have pulled through at the end, but Burke came in and did a great job and shut them down one-two-three."

Before Burke's heroics in the bottom of the seventh, Hampshire got an insurance run in the top half to make it 7-5. A Goebbert single scored junior Bo Price (2-for-3), who had reached on a single and an error, from third.

Hampshire plays for the sectional championship at 11 a.m. Saturday against the winner of Mendota and Lena-Winslow.