FARMINGTON — Second-seeded Farmington was looking to win its first conference-tournament championship in nine straight tries. Top-seeded Ste. Genevieve was hoping to win it for the first time since claiming the title in 2000.

But one bad inning for Ste. Genevieve meant the Black Knights became the undisputed Mineral Area Activities Association champions Friday night, winning the battle of the large-schools divisional season co-champions, 5-3, at Wilson-Rozier Park.

The ninth time is the charm, evidently, and it comes at the expense of the Dragons, who battled tough to the end but couldn’t overcome a five-run , second-inning debacle that ultimately cost them the undisputed league title among the 12 teams. It also snapped the Dragons’ seven-game winning streak.

Farmington (11-8), which has won three straight games and four of its last five, finally won the conference-tournament crown for the first time since 1995 with a little frustration due to being seeded behind the Dragons (13-4) after beating them 7-1 at Yanks Field on April Fools Day.

Already pushed back an hour because of rain, the chaos all came in the top of the second frame, starting with pitcher Josh Meyer allowing three walks.

Then the defense botched a double-play that allowed for two runs to score, and bad luck saw a routine pop fly drop behind the infielders who couldn’t get to the ball because they were playing in with the bases loaded.

Next thing Ste. Genevieve knew, it was down 5-0. Meyer and the Dragons settled down from there and creeped back into the game.

The Dragons finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Chad Greminger tripled, then scored on a passed ball.

Ste. Genevieve got its final two runs with two outs in the fifth when Greminger singled in courtesy runner Brock Meyer, then Josh Meyer doubled in Greminger for what would be the eventual final score.

After going down 1-2-3 in the sixth, the Dragons threatened again in the seventh, but the Knights wrapped up the title on a double-play.

Meyer suffered the complete-game loss despite nine strikeouts, allowing two earned runs on four hits and four walks.

Catcher Tyler Thomure finished with a double and a single, while Aaron Wehner also had a hit.
Farmington’s Nick Baker earned the win in 4-2/3 innings of work.

After losing to North County in the title game six straight years, the Knights then lost in the finals last year to Park Hills Central, a No. 7 seed that had finished 0-5 in seasonal conference play.

Ironically under similar scenarios, the two schools met for the MAAA tournament championship during the boys basketball season a few months ago.

Like in baseball, the Dragons hadn’t been to basketball finals in a long while, and the several-time finalist Farmington won the title at their expense.

The Dragons visited Herculaneum Monday to start a very busy week. They will begin MAAA interleague play the rest of the week, starting at West St. Francois County Tuesday, and at home against both Arcadia Valley Thursday and Valle Catholic Friday — each set for 4:30.

For the first time in town history, the Old Settlement matchup with Valle will be a battle of MAAA divisional champions. Ste. Genevieve team, but it’s both squads’ Senior Night.

Ste. Genevieve then returns to Wilson-Rozier Park beginning Saturday and continuing all next week to compete as the No. 2 seed in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 2 tournament.

•(1) Dragons 3, (5) Potosi 2 (8 inn.): It took a little longer than its last game, but top-seeded Ste. Genevieve advanced to the championship finals of the MAAA tournament for the first time since they won it in 2000 thanks to a game-winning single by senior catcher Tyler Thomure.

Trying to avoid another semifinal meltdown, the Dragons (13-3) again capitalized on five errors, but needed eight innings to beat the fifth-seeded Trojans (10-9) last Wednesday evening at Wilson-Rozier Park in Farmington.

Having reached the semifinals for the third time in four years, the Dragons rallied from a 2-0 early deficit to prevail for the eighth time in nine games, including seven straight. Potosi saw its two-game winning streak stopped.

Thomure smashed a single past the left fielder to score Aaron Wehner, who had singled and then was moved into scoring position on Jeremy Vaeth’s mishandled bunt.

That was good enough for Caleb Whitworth to overcome a shaky start for the complete-game win.
Whitworth (6-1), who matched last season’s personal win total, struck out six and walked no one, allowing the two runs on six hits in eight innings of work.

Once Whitworth settled down, he retired 15 of the last 17 Trojans he faced. He also set up the win with a game-tying single in the seventh.

With the win, Ste. Genevieve advanced to meet second-seeded Farmington in the title match at Wilson-Rozier Park.

Ste. Genevieve and Farmington currently share the MAAA large-schools division’s seasonal crown and it will be a rematch of the Knights’ 7-1 victory over Ste. Genevieve on April Fool’s Day.

Farmington beat the small-schools divisional champion, third-seeded Valle Catholic, 4-1 in the other semifinal later in the night.

In this game, the Trojans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning on three hits, an RBI-groundout and a hit batsman.

Then Whitworth’s rubber arm baffled Potosi from there.

Ste. Genevieve cut into the deficit on Chad Greminger’s two-out RBI-single.

The score would stay 2-1 until the Dragons’ half of the seventh when Whitworth singled in Greminger, who had doubled to the gap in right-center field, to send the game to an extra frame.

Whitworth’s hit probably would have been the game-winner, but prior to that play, Cody Schmelzle singled, then was tagged out at home plate trying to score on Greminger’s double.

Making his third appearance in as many days, reliever Chad Smith suffered the tough-luck loss for the Trojans. He had an 11-pitch strikeout to escape the seventh inning.

Potosi freshman Devin Hampton earned a no-decision despite his six solid innings in the start. He struck out two and allowed one unearned run on just one hit and one walk.

Ste. Genevieve reached the MAAA semifinals last season, only to fall to seventh-seeded and eventual champion Park Hills Central, 5-4.

•(1) Dragons 10, (9) Valley 0 (5 inn.): Just one day after pulling a minor upset in the opening round, the ninth-seeded Vikings had no answer for top-seeded Ste. Genevieve in the 12-team MAAA tournament quarterfinals last Tuesday at Yanks Field.

One day earlier, the Caledonia-based Vikings (7-10) beat the eighth-seeded Central Rebels 9-4 in eight innings in the first round at Park Hills. But on this day, they committed five errors against the host Dragons (12-3), who won for the seventh time in eight games, including six straight.

The teams with the better seeds host the first- and second-round games. The top four seeds — Ste. Genevieve, Farmington, Valle Catholic and North County — earned first-round byes. It’s the third time in four years that the Dragons reached the semifinals.

And for the first time in conference history, the tournament was played with wood bats, which like in professional baseball, to keep batters honest. It seemed to dominate the conversations among coaches and players, as well as the media. Some folks liked it, some didn’t.

With the win, Ste. Genevieve, also the large-schools divisional co-champions, advanced to the semifinals against fifth-seeded Potosi, which upset fourth-seeded North County in the quarterfinals 6-4 in eight innings. The Vikings dropped to the fifth-place semifinals and meet North County.

Valley only reached first base safely five times against Ste. Genevieve starter Jeremy Vaeth and saw its two-game winning streak snapped by the Dragons, who had seven hits and used a six-run third inning to take control, then scored three runs in the fourth to eventually enforce the mercy rule.

Vaeth (4-0) remained unbeaten on the mound, earning the win with a dominant five innings of shutout work. He struck out four of the 19 Vikings he faced and allowed just two hits and one walk. At the plate, he was 1 for 2 with an RBI-double.

Josh Meyer and No. 9 batter Curt Roth led Ste. Genevieve offensively.

Meyer finished 2 for 3 with two doubles, two runs scored and four runs batted in. Roth was 2 for 2 with a double, run and three RBI.

Caleb Whitworth (three runs) and Aaron Wehner (double, run, RBI) both had a hit. Sean Steagall (hit by pitch) and catcher Tyler Thomure both scored a run.

Joe Fahland suffered the loss for the Vikings, who made just silly fundamental mistakes, including dropping two easy fly balls in the outfield. Only two of the Dragons runs were earned.