By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Savannah scored two unearned runs in the second inning and three more in the third to go up 8-1.
That's pretty much all Savannah needed, as the Savages (22-9) closed out their regular season with a 10-3 win over MEC rival Benton at Phil Welch Stadium Thursday in the regular season finale.
Savannah (22-9) has plenty of momentum heading into district play next week, as they've now won seven straight games and eight of their last nine.
Facing light rain showers for at least half of the game, the Savages put up the first run when Truman Bodenhausen scored on an RBI groundout from Parker Brayley. Bodenhausen led off the game with a single to left.
Benton (18-11) suffered a major setback early when starting pitcher Chris Coy had to exit the game after the first at-bat. Kruz Bigham came on to relieve him for the first three innings.
Benton tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first, as Myles Bachali reached on a single and then scored, thanks to an RBI groundout from Jackson Kanacsky.
Savannah blew the game open a bit in the top of the second, scoring three runs on a hit, two walks and an error.
The Savages really blew it open in the top of the third with four runs on two hits and two errors. Landon Noland doubled and scored in that frame, helping the Savages build that 8-1 advantage.
Benton got a run back in both the fifth and sixth innings, but Savannah scored an insurance run in both the sixth and the seventh.
By the middle of the game, when it was practically decided, both Benton and Savannah's coaching staffs elected to send in a lot of junior varsity players to get some at-bats.
Dylan Mazur was one of those for Savannah. The freshman singled and scored in the sixth. Sophomore Cooper Swan singled and scored in the seventh.
Junior Zayden Snapp got the win on the mound for the Savages, tossing the first two innings and allowing just two hits and one earned run. He struck out one and walked two.
Bigham took the loss for Benton in three innings. Syrus Wahlert threw four innings of relief for the Cardinals to end the game.
Both teams now look toward district play early next week. Benton is the No. 3 seed in Class 4 District 15 and they'll face No. 2 seed St. Pius X (13-6) on Monday in Excelsior Springs at 6:30 p.m.
Savannah is the No. 1 seed in Class 4 District 16 and have a first-round bye. The Savages await the winner of Cameron and Lafayette. The Dragons and Irish play on Saturday at 10 a.m in Cameron.
The Savages play the winner on Monday at 5 p.m. in Cameron.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.