Concluding their season with a fourth-place finish in the state tournament, the Concordia Knights fell to Clifton-Clyde 7-5 in the third-place game.
Clifton-Clyde came out hot, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead. The Knights got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runs to cut the lead in half, thanks to Keithen Fraley and a solo homer from Jack Gilliland.
Xavier Smies scored for the Knights in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 4-3 game. Clifton-Clyde scored again in the fifth to erase the Smies run, but two runs from Maklen Brown and another home run from Gilliland tied the game 5-5 entering the sixth.
The Knights had a chance to win the game in the sixth, with Carson Farha and Brown on base. Gilliland stepped up to the plate before Clifton-Clyde put Gilliland on base with an automatic walk, before out three brought the game into extra innings.
In the seventh inning, Clifton-Clyde scored a pair of runs to take a 7-5 lead. After a Mason Olsen leadoff walk, three straight outs ended the game.
Facing off with an undefeated Beloit Honey Badger squad, the Knights were handed a 6-5 loss to fall into the third-place consolation game.
The Knights jumped out to a one-run lead early in the top of the first inning thanks to a Gilliland home run. Beloit took the lead in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. After a scoreless second inning, the Knights retook the lead with a pair of runs from another Gilliland home run that also brought in Brown after he was walked. Beloit struck back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third to take a 5-3 lead.
The Honey Badgers scored another run in the fourth to expand their lead to three, 6-3. In the top of the fifth, the Knights scored a run on a Brown single that scored Sage Newlin, and with the bases loaded with Nash Farha on third, Carson Farha on second, and Brown on first, Gilliland stepped up to bat and was intentionally walked, which scored Nash. Beloit then picked up three straight strikeouts with the bases loaded to win the game.
Winning their first game of the state championship in the second round, the Knights defeated Washington Red with a comeback and a walk-off win.
Washington scored first in the top of the first, scoring two runs before the Knights scored one run from Maklen Brown in the bottom of the first to make it a 2-1 game. The Reds scored three more runs in the top of the second and held off the Knights to take a 5-1 lead. After three scoreless innings for the Knights, with their backs against the wall, the Knights scored four runs from Brown, Jaden Farha, Jack Gilliland, and Mason Olsen scoring in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game, with Gilliland and Olsen scoring on a Sage Newlin bunt, and went into extra innings. Brown played hero once again, with two outs he earned a walk and stole third, and on a wild pitch he stole home to walk the game off and advance the Knights.
