Reported by Jack Witthaus

The Westminster Wildcats avoided a near upset in Springfield today, beating the Marshall Owls 8-2.

At first, it looked like Westminster would cruise to an easy victory. The Wildcats wasted no time, grabbing an early 1-0 lead in the first on an error by Owl's second baseman Mason Paulus. The error scored the explosive center fielder Tate Matheny. On the day, Matheny went one for two with two runs and a stolen base.

Until the sixth inning, Marshall southpaw starter Aaron Skinner mystified Westminster hitters.

"A lot of us going into the game saw him warming up, we were saying, 'We can hit this guy. He's going to be easy.' We started to at first, but he just started going right at guys, and we had some base running mistakes that hurt us. And (we did not have) any timely hitting," first baseman Connor Einerston said.

Offensively, Marshall didn't stay quiet. The Owls hooted to a 2-1 lead when third baseman Jordan Pannell walked home a run with the bases loaded. Following him, shortstop Henry Tietz belted a drive deep center to Matheny for a sacrifice fly, scoring starting pitcher Aaron Skinner.

However, the Owls wings were clipped in the sixth when the Wildcats jumped all over Skinner. After walking Einerston and second baseman Connor Larson, Skinner gave up a hit to right fielder Jordan Smith to even the score 2-2.

"I was just really patient," Einerston said "Everyone ... was going five pitch and six pitch at bats, just trying to work the pitcher and then eventually we got some pitches that we could hammer."

The drama reached a climax when designated hitter Bryce Bell came up to the plate with the bases juiced. Bell broke the Skinner's mystique with a one-out triple to make the score 5-2. Bell was the only Wildcat with two hits, going two for three.

"We're confident enough that we can come back," Bell said. "We had that in our minds. And that's what we did. We came back and pulled away with the victory."

Collin Porter relieved Skinner and proceeded to balk home two runners. The lead grew when catcher Brett Bond brought home third baseman Luke Turner for the seventh run of the inning.

Up 8-2, Westminster's starter Davis Vanderslice kept his poise to set the last six hitters down in order. Vanderslice went seven strong, striking out five and only walking one batter.

Westminster will now play Metro League rival Lutheran South tomorrow in the Class 3 Championship game at 1 p.m. In the two games played this year between the teams, Westminster has won both contests.

"I haven't thought about (Lutheran South) yet," head coach Rich Van Gilst said. "But I'm glad there will be a St. Louis team that wins it."