Webb City loses Class 5 state semifinal to St. Francis Borgia

Jun. 2—OZARK, Mo. — Jack Nobe and Kaylor Darnell went at it pitch-for-pitch for most of Friday's Class 5 state semifinal game inside Sky Bacon Stadium. St. Francis Borgia's Nobe went the distance and limited Webb City to just two hits as the Cardinals fell 4-0.

"We put the ball in play quite a bit," head coach Andrew Doennig said. "We didn't strike out much, we just couldn't get one to fall.

"He's a hard kid (Nobe) to square up. He's got a little movement and keeps you off-balance."

Webb City (22-14) certainly put the ball in play plenty of times throughout the game. The Cardinals only struck out four times.

Cy Darnell laced a ball into center field in the first inning but it was right at the Knights' Tyler Kromer. In the third, Kaylor Darnell hit a rocket to Drew Eckhoff at shortstop. Eckhoff leaped and stole a base hit away from Darnell. Sam Weller hit a sharp grounder up the first-base line that Reagan Kandlbinder fielded cleanly despite having to range to his left and stay down on the low-hopping ball.

The Cardinals only managed hits in the third from Gage Chapman and the sixth from Drew Vonder Haar. Those were two of the softer hits off the bat. Chapman's was a bloop single between the shortstop and centerfielder. Vonder Haar's was a perfectly placed ground ball in the hole between third base and shortstop that Eckhoff couldn't quite reach.

"You just have to flush that one and come back tomorrow and play for third," Doennig said.

The Cardinals play at 10 a.m. Saturday for third place against Fort Zumwalt South who lost to Festus 2-0 Friday. Festus and St. Francis Borgia (25-5) meet at 1 p.m. for the title.

Battling against Nobe proved to be difficult as he retired the Cardinals in order in all but two of the seven innings. The junior talked about his performance and battling with the Cardinals at the big stage.

"It feels great. Everybody's watching, pressure on, there's nothing better, really," Nobe said. "I felt good going in. I put the fastball over the plate and let the fastball go to work. And then I have the slider to mix-and-match and keep them off-balance."

Darnell fought to keep the game close. He allowed five hits, walked a batter and hit three with pitches but only allowed one run in the bottom of the third. The senior struck out five batters.

"We knew it was going to be a battle," St. Francis Borgia head coach Robert Struckhoff said. "Two guys going on to pitch at the college level. Two guys that have a good baseball background and they're (Webb City) a very good program. Just a great athletic school in all sports."

"Yeah, there's always more pressure," Nobe added. "He's (Darnell) a great pitcher. He kept them in the game. It's always more intense when you have a close game like that."

Struckhoff noted that his team was able to do just enough to come out on top in the pitching battle.

Nobe drew a walk with one out in the third, stole second base, moved up to third after Tanner McPherson singled into left field and scored on Kandlbinder's ground ball through the left side to make it 1-0.

That one run was all the Knights would need.

Darnell was lifted after 5 1/3 innings of work and hitting a batter in the sixth inning.

"He didn't have his best stuff today but he battled through it," Doennig said of Darnell. "He scattered a few hits, got some strikeouts, made a few plays, he did a great job but you could tell he was gassed. We've asked a lot of him recently. This is his fourth straight start."

Walker Sweet replaced him and struck out the first batter he faced for the second out in the 6th. The next batter hit a soft ground ball to Weller at second. Weller routinely scooped it up but lost the ball on the transfer allowing the inning to extend. Things went south from there as the next four batters reached — three walks and a hit — to score three runs and make it 4-0.

This group of Cardinals reached the Final Four of the MSHSAA state championships for the first time in 13 years and won back-to-back district championships.

"It's always been a dream since I was a kid to come to a Final Four," Webb City senior William Hayes said. "We get to come out tomorrow and play for third place and forget about today."

"It's been awesome to play with these guys," Webb City senior Cy Darnell said. "I love 'em."

Early in the game, Nobe struck a pitch to right center field for the biggest shot of the game from either team. The ball fell between right and center field and two-hopped off the wall for a triple.

Nobe eventually tried to take home on a pitch that bounced off the turf. Webb City catcher Shaun Hunt blocked it and kept it right in front of him. The backspin off the bounce kept it close enough he was able to gather it and get back to home in plenty of time to tag Nobe out and keep the game scoreless.

"He was trying to be aggressive and thought the ball would get further away from the catcher than that," Struckhoff said.

Struckhoff also talked about taking the Knights to a state title game.

"It's fun going to a state championship game," Struckhoff said. "We did it in 2019 in Class 4. We were fortunate enough to get a win there. Getting to go back with this group ... we've talked, coach (Spencer) Unnerstall and I, this is one of my favorite groups. I've coached 24 years and this group is just a good group of boys. They don't cause problems, they come to practice and work hard every day and they want to learn and get better. So it's just been a joy."