By Jack Witthaus
Prep Baseball Report Writer

In a hotly contested Class Four semifinal game, Oak Grove prevailed defeating Booneville, 4-3, at TR Hughes Park on Saturday. 

Oak Grove will play Westminster on Sunday in the Class Four State finals on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. 

“It’d be nicer if we didn’t win so tightly,” Oak Grove coach Kirk Sears said before rain interrupted the interview. 

Starter Conner Matson, who came into the game sporting a miniscule 0.89 ERA, hurled all seven innings in the victory, striking out 10 and walking two in a dominant performance. 

The ballgame seemed tit-for-tat until the fifth inning, when Oak Grove pulled away with the lead. Seann Baker lead off the fifth with a double that dribbled barely fair down the third base line. The next batter, Levi Harmon, bunted for a single to advance Baker to third. 

Cole Doherty sacrificed to deep center, scoring Baker for the game-winning run. The No. 3 hitter Doherty swung the big stick on the day, going two for two with a run and an RBI. 

Booneville, though, scored the first run promptly in the first inning. Jacob Francis walked, was sacrificed to second and finally scored on a Jalen Poindexter RBI single. 

Poindexter paced Booneville in hitting on the day, going two for three. 

Wasting no time, Oak Grove responded in the bottom of the frame, when Doherty singled up the gut and scored on the following play after Booneville made two errors. 

The game remained tied at one until Booneville broke out in the fourth inning with two runs. Keaton Barnes led off the inning with a double to right and was scored on an Ethan Sander base knock to left. 

Sander secured third on another single and scored on a passed ball. 

Oak Grove again responded in the next frame, plating two runs. Errors continued to plague Boneville, which allowed Conner Matson to reach second base with two outs on a misplayed ball at shor 

Oak Grove capitalized, dropping three consecutive singles. Tanner Johnson and Corey Bolin both singled home runs, driving home Matson and Jacob Kienzler.