Prep baseball: Extra! Extra!

Jul. 2—CENTERVILLE — Bases loaded. Two outs. Full count. Season on the line.

That type of situation will test the nerves of any baseball player.

Landon Glosser was not immune to the nerves of one the most pressure-packed situation of the season for the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Rockets. Locked in a 3-3 tie with South Central Conference rival Davis County in the bottom of the 11th inning of the Class 2A district opener for both teams, Glosser prepared for the biggest pitch of the season.

"I got a little nervous there," Glosser said. "I got back on time and watched the pitch go high. We got the outcome we wanted."

Nolan Cremer's 78th pitch of the night, the 168th pitch thrown by any Davis County pitcher and the 332nd overall pitch thrown in the postseason thriller drifted high and inside on Glosser. After ducking back, Glosser tossed his bat towards the EBF dugout before trotting down to first base as Carsen Wade came home to score the winning run clinching EBF's 4-3 win over the Mustangs setting off a celebration in the rain along first base for the Rockets.

For Glosser, it was his third time reaching base in five trips to the plate after connecting on a pair of singles earlier in the game including a lead-off hit in the third that led to a game-tying two-run rally for EBF. Entering the game, the Rocket junior was batting just .169 and 14 total hits in 31 games.

"I've been a little bit of slump since the middle of the season," Glosser said. "My teammates kept telling me it just takes one. I got a hit against Chariton last week and I've been hitting the ball pretty well ever since then."

No strangers to postseason classics, including 5-4 district championship wins by the Mustangs on the way to state tournament berths in 2012 and 2021, EBF and Davis County's most recent encounter featured an extra layer of drama. Rain moved into the area briefly early in the game, coming down during the third-inning rally by the Rockets that featured four hits including a game-tying two-out single by Kyler Ricard just 11 pitches after the Mustangs throw out Blake Jager trying to score the tying run at home plate.

As the skies began to darken, Davis County took the lead back in the top of the fifth with a two-out rally. Aiden Fowler was hit by a pitch before coming home on consecutive hits by Carter Will and Houstin Schooley, giving the Mustangs a 3-2 lead.

Under Iowa High School baseball rules, had EBF not scored in the fifth and weather moved in, the game would have been official allowing Davis County to advance. The Rockets, however, were able to push the tying run across as Jager singled with one out and moved up to third on a pair of wild pitches before coming home on a sacrifice fly to right by Skyler Young tying the game at 3-3.

"That's really when an extra sense of urgency really set in," EBF head baseball coach Thomas Hallgren said. "You start thinking about what happens if the game gets suspended until Monday. I started thinking about our pitch-count situation and Davis County's pitch-count situation.

"I don't know what inning it was, but I looked off to (the west) and saw how dark it was getting. That's when you started to think it might be an issue."

The possibility of a suspended game that would need to be completed on Monday seemed to get greater as Wyatt Sandeen and Cremer came on late in regulation. Cremer struck out four of the first six EBF batters he faced after coming on to open the bottom of the sixth, retiring 17 of the first 18 Rockets he faced, while Sandeen came on in the seventh to record nine straight batters as neither the Mustangs nor the Rockets could get a runner into scoring position throughout the seventh, eighth or ninth innings.

"It was thrilling in the sense that both teams played that many innings of clean baseball," Hallgren said. "Both teams seemed to get out of whatever trouble they seemed to find themselves in. It was an incredible game by both teams."

EBF ultimately got out of more trouble as Will's third hit for the Mustangs opened the 10th inning. Two bunts and a walk to Boyd Brinegar gave Davis County a chance to take the lead with two runners in scoring position with two outs before Sandeen struck out pinch-hitter Evan Bennett to keep the score tied at 3-3.

"It was an experience. You just have to keep battling until the end," Sandeen said. "It was a dogfight. Each team had fight. I just had get my pitches to find their spots. I just had to keep mixing them up and to keep people off balance."

Consecutive one-out fielding errors by the Rockets again gave Davis County a chance to break the tie in the top of the 11th, putting two more runners in scoring position. Once again, Sandeen stood tall forcing Fowler to pop out to second base before striking out Will swinging keeping the game tied even as the rain started to fall.

"The rain actually felt good out there. It kind of brought a little bit more energy," Sandeen said. "We just kept playing through it. If they stopped the game and we had to come back on Monday to finish it, that's what we would have done."

It appeared a 12th inning would be necessary as Cremer struck out EBF's first two hitters in the bottom of the 11th, bringing up Carsen Wade who was 0-4 on the night with three strikeouts. The Rocket senior, however, swung at the first pitch of his fifth at-bat grounding a single into left to extend the inning.

"I've been struggling the past few games just to make contact," Wade said. "It felt good to get that ball through and finally get on for my team."

Wade not only got on, but went from first to third on an infield single by Theron Taylor giving the Rockets their best chance at ending the game. As rain continued to fall, Cremer issued his first walk as Hayden McCrea took a 3-2 pitch high to load the bases.

Cremer nearly got out of the jam, getting to 2-2 on Glosser who just fouled off the fifth pitch of the 11th-inning at bat to stay alive. After taking the sixth pitch high, Glosser took ball four to bring the postseason thriller to an end.

"He was just up there grinding it out for us," Hallgren said of Glosser. "They called time at one point and I told Landon to get on top of the plate. I had a Major League II reference ready. I told him to pull a Roger Dorn and just find a way to get on base."

EBF (14-19) will head down Eagle Lane in Pella to face Central Decatur on Wednesday in the first of two Class 2A, District 6 quarterfinals hosted by Pella Christian starting at 5 p.m. Pella Christian's opponent for the second game on Tuesday has yet to be determined as Cardinal and Centerville, due to the showers that moved into Appanoose County on Saturday night, will have to wait until Monday to play their district first round contest at Daugherty Field at 7 p.m.

Davis County ends the season with a record of 11-19.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.