No interfering with history: Hornets snuff out Hawks’ seventh-inning threat to reach state finals for first time ever

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Everyone in the Brown County baseball team’s dugout and those on the field could see Carrollton’s Grant Pohlman looming in the on-deck circle and casting a rather sizable shadow over the Claude Kracik Field grass.

“We knew he was coming up and we knew what he had done to us,” Hornets catcher Eathan Howell said.

Pohlman belted a three-run home run in the fifth inning of Monday’s Class 1A super-sectional, and should he get to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, Brown County coach Jared Hoots vowed not to let him swing.

“I was praying the whole time Pohlman didn’t come up, and I was thinking what I was going to do if he did and what type of fool I was going to look like depending on the outcome,” Hoots said. “He was getting walked no matter what. He wasn’t going to beat us.”

He never got the chance.

With a runner on first base, one out and the Hornets clinging to a one-run lead, Hornets junior right-hander Colby Wort induced a ground ball from Gus Coonrod, the Hawks’ No. 2 hitter. Hornets shortstop Tyce Fullerton fielded it cleanly and made the flip to second baseman Maverick Henry covering the base for a forceout of Kyle Leonard.

What transpired in that moment created unbridled jubilation from the Hornets and utter disbelief among the Hawks.

Infield umpire Doug Elledge called Leonard for interference because his slide took out Henry in the process of the throw to first base. With the call came Coonrod being ruled out at first base, ending Brown County’s 4-3 victory and sending the Hornets to the state finals for the first time in program history.

“When we went to state in eighth grade, we told everybody we’d be back,” Wort said. “Nobody believed it, but we spoke it into existence and here we are.”

The Hornets (27-4) will face Ottawa Marquette at 10 a.m. Friday in the state semifinals at Peoria’s Dozer Park, the home stadium of the Class A Peoria Chiefs.

With that, Brown County is guaranteed the first state trophy in any sport in school history.

“It feels amazing,” Hornets first baseman Mason Henry said. “It’s good to know you’re making history. We’ve worked hard for this, and we’re not done.”

That didn’t keep the Hornets from a lively celebration.

“It’s almost surreal,” Howell said of everything the Hornets have accomplished. “It’s crazy to think we’re here and we’re still playing.”

It took some luck and some pluckiness in tense moments to make it possible

The Hornets built a four-run with an opportunistic approach as Gabe Blakeley drove a ball deep to center field with two outs in the first inning, and when the ball was dropped by center fielder Drew Costner, he scooted all the way around the bases for the game’s first run.

Mason Henry followed with a double and scored on Will Groesch’s single.

Brown County’s Gavin Montgomery led off the second inning by being hit by a pitch and scored on Sam Carr’s two-out single for a 3-0 lead. Mason Henry drove in the fourth run with a two-out single in the fourth inning.

In between, Wort danced out of trouble. He stranded the bases loaded in the first inning with a strikeout and a popout, and he stranded two runners in scoring position in the third.

After Pohlman’s home run in the fifth, Wort retired six batters in a row before Leonard singled with one out in the seventh. The next at-bat will forever be part of Brown County baseball lore.

“To finally break through, it’s a great feeling,” said Hoots, who is an assistant football coach and previously served as the head boys basketball coach. “I feel it for our kids. I just grabbed my phone to see what time it was and the millions of former players blowing me up is such a great feeling. It’s a humbling feeling more than anything.”