MILFORD – For the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley varsity baseball team, it was the same song, but in a different verse.
The Falcons won an IHSA Class 1A regional championship for the second year in a row.
While some of the players, and the venue, changed, the opponent – Milford – was the same.
Last year, GCMS defeated Milford 9-1 in the Grant Park Regional final at Gibson City.
On Saturday, despite Milford having the home-field advantage, the Falcons once again triumphed, defeating the host Bearcats 4-2 in the Milford Regional title game.
“It feels really good. It feels nice to go back-to-back with these guys,” GCMS senior ace pitcher/shortstop Brayden Elliott said. “We lost a couple of seniors, but in reality, we knew we could win this one, and we got it done today.”
“To win this game was huge,” GCMS head coach Dustin White added. “Now everything’s just about going out and having fun. The other teams are now ranked a little higher than us, so we have nothing to lose. We’ll just go out there and play the game and see what happens.”
The Falcons will seek their second straight sectional championship as well. Last year, they finished fourth in the state tournament.
“It’d be nice to be in the same position as last year,” Elliott said.
At 4 p.m. Wednesday, GCMS will face Mount Pulaski in the Arcola Sectional semifinals. The Falcons defeated Mount Pulaski in the Arcola Sectional championship game last year, with then-freshman Graydon Leonard tossing a no-hitter.
“It’s a nice ballpark there, so going there’s not a problem,” White said. “We’re just excited to continue to be playing ball at this point.”
The Falcons (16-11) obtained the early advantage with two runs in the first inning.
David Hull started the inning with a leadoff single to center field.
“That kind of calmed everybody down a little bit,” White said.
Trent Wetherell was hit by a pitch with one out before Leonard singled to left field to send Hull home for the first run.
Conner Kinzinger then lined a base hit to left field to send Wetherell across home plate for the second run.
Kinzinger finished the game hitting 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
“Conner Kinzinger had a really good day today offensively,” White said.
In the second inning, Brayden Bradbury hit a one-out infield single before scoring what would end up being the game-winning run on a single by GCMS’s starting pitcher, Elliott, in the second inning.
“It felt really nice to get that one across,” Elliott said. “It really gave me more confidence at the plate and gave the rest of the team confidence because we got that little boost with that extra run.”
Elliott finished his outing on the mound with 10 strikeouts and two walks while allowing two earned runs on five hits.
“It was really nice,” Elliott said. “The defense played great today and (catcher Trent Wetherell) called a really good game behind the dish. He blocked everything that came his way and really worked hard for me today.”
Wetherell was one of the newcomers this year as he replaced longtime starter Zach Price at the catcher position.
The Falcons entered the season with some of their starters changed from last season due to players graduating, including Ty Cribbett, who finished his freshman season at Millikin University, as well as outfielder Isaiah Johnson, among others.
“Wetherell’s been really solid for us,” White said. “We knew our pitching staff was going to be OK. There are a lot of things that go with it, and they really stepped up. Our defense in the outfield has been really good.
“I can’t be any happier or pleased with these guys. When you lose the kids we lost last year and know you’ll have a brand new outfield and a couple of guys in different spots, you don’t know how things are going to go throughout the course of the year, but they’ve worked hard and got a lot better.”
In the third inning, Kinzinger singled to right field and Zeb Greer walked with one out before Jason Christensen hit a ground ball and reached base on an error with two outs, resulting in Kinzinger crossing home plate to extend GCMS’s lead to 4-0.
The Falcons finished the game with eight hits, including two each from Hull, Elliott and Kinzinger and one each from Hull and Bradbury, who also reached base on an error on a ground ball in the fifth inning.
“I was really happy with the way we swung the bat,” White said. “Those are little things we talked about all year – having long at-bats and putting the ball in play. Don’t strike out. Go up there and make the other team play some defense and put some pressure on them, and we did that early.”
Greer was tagged out at home plate on the error on Christensen’s ground ball. Despite loading the bases in the fifth inning via Kinzinger reaching base on a dropped third strike, Parker Baillie taking a hit-by-pitch and Bradbury’s erroneously-fielded ground ball, the Falcons could not get that fifth run for their pitcher Elliott.
The Falcons left 11 runners on base.
“I thought if we could get five runs, we’d be good,” White said. “I didn’t think they could score five off (Elliott). It helped that we got some early because it changed some of the things they had to do offensively.”
In the top of the fifth inning, Caleb Clutteur was hit by a pitch and Colt Halpin drew a walk before Aiden Frerichs sent both runners home with a double to left field to cut Milford’s deficit in half at 4-2. Hixon Lafond then lined out to Bradbury in left field for the third out.
Greer made a leaping grab of an Aiden Bell line drive in the top of the sixth inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, David Bell lined a leadoff single to left field, putting the tying run at the plate.
“It was a little more nerve-wracking at the end than we wanted it,” White said. “It’s never easy.”
Following David Bell’s hit, Elliott was relieved on the mound by Greer, who struck out Beau Wright, Clutteur and Halpin to end the game.
“Brayden Elliott threw the ball really well today. Greer came in and just said here you go, let’s see what you’ve got,” White said. “I can’t say enough about the work from both of those guys.”
GCMS 4, Milford 2
MIL 000 020 0 — 2 5 2
GCMS 211 000 x — 4 8 1
W – Brayden Elliott, 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 10 K, 2 BB. L – Caleb Clutteur, 5.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 11 K, BB. S – Zeb Greer, IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K, 0 BB.
Milford (17-15) – Caleb Clutteur R. Colt Halpin 1-3, R. Aiden Frerichs 2-3, 2 RBIs, 2 R. Gage Vogel 1-3. David Bell 1-2.
GCMS (16-11) – David Hull 2-4, R. Brayden Elliott 2-4, RBI. Trent Wetherell 1-3, RBI. Conner Kinzinger 2-4, RBI, R. Brayden Bradbury 1-2, R.
IHSA Class 1A
BLOOMINGTON ILLINOIS WESLEYAN SUPER-SECTIONAL
MONDAY, June 2
Winner Arcola Sectional vs. Winner Peru St. Bede Sectional, 6 p.m.
ARCOLA SECTIONAL
WEDNESDAY, May 28
Game 1 – No. 1 GCMS vs. No. 2 Mount Pulaski, 4 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 4 Argenta-Oreana vs. No. 2 Salt Fork, 6:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, May 31
Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 11 a.m.
PERU ST. BEDE SECTIONAL
WEDNESDAY, May 28
Game 1 – No. 4 Varna Midland vs. No. 4 Heyworth, 4:30 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 5 Lexington vs. No. 7 Henry-Senachwine, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, May 31
Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 10 a.m.