Hornets take advantage of Blue Devils’ miscues in late innings to secure victory

MT. STERLING, Ill. — Beating a Class 4A program gave the Brown County baseball team a major boost heading into next week’s Class 1A regional.

Vlad Rebarcak scored in the bottom of the sixth inning when Quincy High School was unable to turn an inning-ending double play, and Hornets pitcher Eli Staton finished a complete game with a pair of groundouts to cement a 3-2 victory Thursday.

With one out in the sixth, Rebarcak was hit by a pitch and Trey Fullerton singled. Jack Buss hit a ground ball to Quincy shortstop Kyle Taylor, who flipped to second for the forceout but an error trying to turn the double play allowed the go-ahead run to score.

The Hornets (14-13) were scoreless until the fifth inning when Buss led off by getting hit by a pitch and Connor Flynn singled. One out later, Matt Boylen doubled to right field to plate the first run. Maverick Henry’s groundout brought home the tying run.

Staton did the rest, allowing one earned run and six hits over seven innings with three strikeouts and two walks.

The Blue Devils (13-18) manufactured a pair of runs in the first inning as Evan Sohn led off the game with a walk and went to third on Kyle Taylor’s single. Tykell Hammers reached on an error that allowed Sohn to score, and Taylor scored on Brady Lowe’s groundout.

After that, the offense went silent.

The Blue Devils got one runner on each of the next three innings, and in the fifth, Taylor singled with two outs, stole second base, went to third on a wild pitch but was stranded there. Quincy got a runner on base in each of the final two innings but could do nothing with it.

Taylor finished 3 for 4.