Bernie baseball team improves to 21-0, beats Bloomfield 3-0 in September Showdown semifinal

BERNIE, Mo. - Bernie baseball coach Darrin Shipman didn't hesitate to give the ball to Brock Beacham with the Bloomfield Wildcats as the scheduled opponent in a championship semifinal of the September Showdown Tuesday afternoon.

"They are a good team," Shipman said. "I knew they were going to battle and they had just seen Trey last Thursday and did some good things against him. I thought they were too good of an opponent to not go with our best, today. So we decided to throw Brock today and if we were to win just see what happens on Thursday."

Beacham did not disappoint.

The senior standout hurled a complete-game shutout as the top-seeded Bernie Mules booked its spot in the championship of the September Showdown for a second straight season with a 3-0 win against fifth-seeded Bloomfield.

"I knew it was gong to be low-scoring," Bloomfield coach Tyler Trover said. "I think it's a sign of respect that a No. 1 seed throws their No. 1 pitcher against you and it was a good challenge for us. We've been playing a lot better baseball the last couple weeks of the season and it's a tribute to the kids we got to see him. It's been a battle for us this spring health-wise and these guys have had the not-feel-sorry-for-us kind of attitude and because of that we got a great opportunity to see a really, really good pitcher today, which will only make us better for the future."

The Mules tallied a run in the bottom of the first, third and fifth innings for its three-run total.

Austin Beck hit a leadoff home run in the first inning and a one-out solo home run in the third inning.

"The second half of the season he's hitting it well," Shipman said of Beck, who finished 2 for 3. "He is swinging at strikes, driving them and getting extra-base hits for us. When your leadoff guy is doing good things it really gets your offense going. The rest of us didn't do a whole lot today, but usually we do when he sets the table for us. Beck had a great game today and his contributions were important."

Bernie tallied its other run in the fifth inning when Gavin Brown and Owen Foster collected singles to put runners on first and third with one out and Trey Kirkpatrick collected an RBI when he grounded out on the infield for the second out.

Bloomfield stranded seven runners.

The Wildcats only hits were a two-out double by Tim Hector in the top of the first inning and a two-out single by Caleb Pulley in the top of the second inning.

Bloomfield loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning after Alex Gibbs drew a leadoff walk, Caleb Pulley reached base on an infield error and Cameron Pulley was hit by a pitch.

Beacham preserved the shutout by striking out Carson Blair for the second out and getting the next hitter Dalton Phillips to ground out to first base to end the game.

Noah Vandiver suffered a complete-game loss. He allowed seven hits, struck out one and walked two.

"He threw fantastic and went out and battled," Trover said. "He held a good offensive team down and gave us a chance to win. That's what is important. When you get a start like that you have to have a chance to win and I felt like up until the very last play we were continually giving ourselves a chance to win."

Bernie plays second-seeded Bell City in the championship Thursday at 7 p.m. and Bloomfield plays sixth-seeded Campbell in the third-place game Thursday at 5 p.m.

Bernie 3, Bloomfield 0

BLOM 000 000 0 - 0 2 1

BERN 101 010 x - 3 7 2

WP - Brock Beacham. LP - Noah Vandiver. HR - Austin Beck (2) (BE). 2B - Jayce Burk (BE), Tim Hector (BL). Multiple hits - Bernie: Beck 2-3, Owen Foster 2-3.