ROGERSVILLE, Mo. -- Chad Yates belted a two-out home run in the bottom of the eighth to give Logan-Rogersville a 3-2 victory over Warrensburg in a Class 3 Sectional baseball game Thursday. The Wildcats advance to Saturday's state quarterfinals while the Tigers must wait until next year.

Ryan Dawson accepts the congratulations of teammates and coaches after his second inning home run that gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead in Thursday's Sectional game against Logan-Rogersville. (Photo by Dave Kopp)

Simply put, this was a tremendous high school baseball game between two outstanding teams. Warrensburg got on the board first when Ryan Dawson ripped a drive over the center field fence leading off the second inning.

Logan-Rogersville evened the score when Bryan Bench clubbed a drive to right-center to lead off the third. Jason Fielden then reached base on a throwing error and the Tigers compounded the error by botching the rundown when Fielden made a turn toward second.

The Wildcats capitalized on the opportunity. After bunt single by Ian Yates put runners at first and third, pitcher Buddy Baumann scored Fielden with an infield out to make it 2-1.

The Tigers answered in the top of the fourth. Dawson was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and went to second when Payne drew a one out walk.

With two outs, Jeff Carroll stroked a single through the left side of the infield to score Dawson with the tying run.

Both teams would have chances to take the lead after that, but great pitching and defense kept it from happening.

WHS shortstop Kirk Payne tags Andy Leingang of Logan-Rogersville to foil an attempted steal in the fourth inning of Thursday's Sectional game. (Photo by Dave Kopp)

In the bottom of the fourth, Andy Leingang led off with a single. With Zach Craig at the plate, Leingang got a great jump, but Warrensburg catcher Spencer Glover fired a bullet to Payne to nail the runner.

Wayne Huell drew a walk to lead off the Tiger fifth, went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on an infield out by Speer. Baumann, however, left Huell at third, striking out the next two hitters to end the inning.

Warrensburg's defense came up big in the bottom of the fifth, but not before one of the scariest moments of the season. With runners on first and second and one out, Chris Sartin hit a sharp bouncer toward Speer at third.

WHS third baseman Austin Speer was shaken up after being hit in the nose by a ground ball that took a bad hop in the fifth inning of Thursday's Sectional game. Speer remained in the game. (Photo by Dave Kopp)

The ball took a tough, high hop and hit Speer square on the nose and the bases were loaded. While medical personnel took care of the injury, the game was delayed for about 10 minutes.

"I don't think anybody was going to get him off the field," WHS head coach Dave Liebnitz said. "I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw him in the dugout. I was going to hit for him and he wasn't going to have that."

In the meantime, Liebnitz took the opportunity to make a position switch, sending Carroll to right field while bringing in Kevin Burk from the outfield to pitch. The move couldn't have been timed better.

When play resumed, L-R's Josh Kastman lofted a fly ball to Carroll in right. Fielden tagged at third and broke for home as the catch was made.

Carroll fired a strike to Glover at the plate. Glover made the tag as Fielden slid into him and held the ball aloft in his glove for the umpire to see, completing the double play.

"Jeff just caught the ball, took his hop and threw it," Glover recalled. "I knew it was getting to me in the air. I didn't know where the guy was and he wasn't as close to the plate as I thought he was, so I just put the tag down."

Warrensburg fans roar their approval after catcher Spencer Glover tagged Jason Fielden of Logan-Rogersville to complete a fly out-throw out double play in the fifth inning Thursday. Glover had taken the throw from Jeff Carroll. (Photo by Dave Kopp)

"What a play and what are the chances you make that switch," Liebnitz said. "We were ready to go to Kevin any time, then we had the delay with Austin, so I thought, 'We might as well make it now.' But, Jeff's made big plays for us all year, on offense and defense. He's one of the most intelligent players we have."

In the sixth, Burk worked himself into and then out of a jam. After two walks and a sacrifice to start the inning, an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out.

Burk then struck out the next two hitters on called third strikes to end the inning.

On the other side, Baumann continued to pitch well and appeared to be getting stronger. The left-hander worked a perfect seventh, as did Burk, to send the game to an extra frame.

Baumann set the Tigers down in order in the eighth and Burk appeared to be cruising in getting the first two outs in the bottom of the inning. However, the right-hander's first pitch to Yates was ripped to left-center field.

Dawson and Huell chased it as if it were headed for the gap, but the ball disappeared over the fence and the game, as well as the Tigers' season, ended just like that.

A happy Chad Yates (3) of Logan-Rogersville trots around the bases as Warrensburg's Austin Speer contemplates the end of the Tigers' season following Yates' game-winning home run in Thursday's Class 3 Sectional game at Rogersville, Mo. (Photo by Dave Kopp)

"It was a belt high fastball that looked pretty nice," Yates said. "I thought it was going to be a gapper, maybe a triple or double. I saw the ball was out and everybody was jumping and I just went nuts."

"I had no thought of that ball going out," added Liebnitz. "I thought Ryan might have an outside shot at catching it and then it disappeared. That's the park and that's what makes baseball unique. The only thing that's universal are the bases."

Even so, the loss isn't any easier to take.

"It was kind of gut wrenching to be on this end of it, when the kids played so well and got out of so many jams." added Liebnitz. "We had some chances to maybe dig ourselves a hole and we really fought back and got some momentum. We were able to keep the momentum on our side most of the game, we just couldn't plate enough runs."

Baumann allowed only four hits while striking out 14 Tigers, walking three and hitting one.

"He's tough," acknowledged Liebnitz. "We got four hits and that's probably all we deserved. We didn't get that many good swings off of him. He's one of the best we've seen all year."

"In the middle of the game, I noticed I wasn't throwing like I should and I just started going for it and that's when I started putting those zeros up," said Baumann, who is headed for the Missouri State baseball program next season. "My arm probably wasn't a hundred percent at the end, but with the all the adrenalin and the game, I needed to stay in there. I like playing in that situation."

Logan-Rogersville head coach Brad Lotz had talked to Baumann about when he might have to pull him had the game continued beyond the eighth, but never had to make that decision.

"You've got a horse, you ride him," Lotz said. "That's what we did all year. We put him out there and surrounded him with five sophomores and he just continues to deal and deal and deal. His arm got a little tired at the end, but he faced the meat of Warrensburg's lineup and he came up big."

"We just didn't capitalize, it's hard to win a game with four hits," added Payne. "Throughout the game, I never really worried. We'd been in this spot before against Columbia Rock Bridge and other teams. I don't think anybody was ever down. The kid hit a clutch shot and that was that."

Lotz added his team needed that kind of an effort against the Tigers' potent lineup.

"Warrensburg is a solid team," Lotz said. "We were worried because we knew they could hit. I just talked to my guys about knowing that pitching and defense can win championships. It just so happened we got lucky with the long ball."

The loss ends the careers of Warrensburg's seniors - Speer, Glover, Payne and pitcher Todd Lockwood.

"Austin played in four District championship games, won two of them," Liebnitz noted. "Kirk comes in and in two years, goes 42-9 and I told Spencer that when he was a freshman, I didn’t think he'd ever catch for us. He worked his ever-lovin' tail off and he had a terrific year behind the plate."

The Tigers finish the season 23-5, establishing a school record for single season victories and claiming a District title.

"We played a great level of competition and I think, overall, we really enjoyed it," Liebnitz said. "We're going to try to keep doing the same things and maybe we get past this hump next year. That's a long way off. We had a terrific year. We didn't give any games away. It was a true team effort."

Logan-Rogersville will face Webb City in the Class 3 quarterfinals Saturday at Webb City.