WALK-OFF BUNT: Bernie bunts its way to district title game in final at-bat against South Pemiscot

Note: A photo gallery of the district semifinals is available at this link: Semifinal Action

CAMPBELL, Mo. - Bernie Mules baseball coach Darrin Shipman likes to leave it up to his hitters whether or not they bunt when there is a runner at third base and less than two outs.

"A lot of times I go up to my upperclassmen and ask them 'which one do you want to do,'" Shipman said.

Such a situation materialized Tuesday night with the season on the line in the bottom of the seventh inning of a tie game against the South Pemiscot Bulldogs.

The hitter that received the question after baserunner Alex Guzman advanced to third base with only one out was Austin Beck.

"The first thing he said was 'swing,'" Shipman said of Beck's reply to the question. "And I said 'all right I'm going to give you a swing, but you better look down here every time and if I give it to you you better get it down.' And he said 'I will coach.'"

Bunt time materialized two pitches later on a 1-1 count and Beck delivered by bunting a ball about 10 feet in front of home plate that scored Guzman about a second before the pitcher could feed the ball to the catcher for a potential tag play.

"He asked me what I wanted to do," Beck said. "And I said 'I just want to take one swing and then I'll try to get the squeeze down.'"

Second-seeded Bernrie secured a 3-2 come-from-behind victory against South Pemiscot on the bunt play and is slated to play top-seeded Cooter today at 4:30 p.m. at Campbell in the district championship.

"I thought South Pemiscot played their tails off over there," Shipman said. "Their pitcher battled and kept the ball down real well all day, and for the most part they made the plays. We put the bat on the ball, but just didn't get the hits when we needed to. We left runners on early in the game, but they played well and battled at the plate too and you have to give them credit for that. I'm proud we found a way. I always tell the kids 'you've just got to grind this time of the year.'"

Guzman moved within bunting distance of scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning after drawing a leadoff walk, advancing to second base on a balk and moving to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Jayce Burk.

South Pemiscot jumped out to a 2-0 lead when it tallied its only two hits of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Logan Damesworth had an infield RBI single in the top of the fourth frame before South Pemiscot plated its other run when a baserunner from third base scored on a wild pitch.

Gavin Brown evened things up at 2-2 after collecting a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning and a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"It was big," Shipman said of Brown's clutch playoff performance. "You are talking about a freshman coming through with a big hit in a district semifinal game. He hit it well. I'm just proud of him. He comes in every morning at 7 a.m. and hits. It's good to see something like that pay off for him."

Both starting pitchers went the distance in the district semifinal.

Beacham allowed just two hits in seven innings of work.

Damesworth surrendered six hits in six plus innings on the hill.

"Brock has pitched a lot of big games and he was pitching with confidence," Shipman said. "I thought he threw the ball pretty well today. He hit a couple batters early, and I think he was trying to be too fine early. But then I thought he settled down. We limited them to just one run after they loaded the bases and that was big. I thought he did a great job, and for the most part we played well behind him."

Bernie made just one defensive error, while South Pemiscot committed four errors.

"We played really good defense," Beacham said. "I think we might have had one error. And we came through with the bats when it mattered."

Bernie earns a shot at defending state champion Cooter with the victory. Cooter won the only meeting between the state-ranked squads this spring 3-1 on April 11.

"We've been wanting this all year since the season started, but especially after they beat us down there," Beacham said.

Senior Tyler McLevain is the projected starting pitcher for Cooter in the district final.

"The first time we played them McLevain struck us out 12 times," Shipman said. "He kind of dominated us to be honest. I told the kids 'we are going to go in in the morning and hit and try to get ready.' We are going to have to grind out every at-bat because he's tough. Cooter is used to playing these big games. They will come out and be ready and we've just got to grind and hopefully find a way just like today."

Shipman said he expects senior Devin Trammell to take to the hill in the title game for his squad.

"He's pitched great all year for us and he deserves the opportunity," Shipman said. "We'll see how it goes. He's a great competitor and I know he wants it and is looking forward to the competition, and I'm sure McLevain is as well so we will see who is better tomorrow."

No. 2 Bernie 3, No. 3 South Pemiscot 2

SPS 000 200 0 - 2 2 4

BHS 000 101 1 - 3 6 1

WP - Brock Beacham. LP - Logan Damesworth. 2B - Austin Beck (B). Multiple hits - Bernie: Devin Trammell 2-3, Gavin Brown 2-3.