Class 1A tournament: New London moves past Pekin, Keota out

The Union coverage area started play on Tuesday with three teams left in the Class 1A Substate 6 tournament. By the end of play, that number was down to one.

Pekin gave No. 3 New London a game in one quarterfinal match. In the other, Keota’s season came to a bitter end.

No. 3 New London 6, Pekin 2

New London scored six runs over the first two innings and Pekin could never catch up.

Pekin, however, did give the Tigers a relatively close game. The Panthers battled back to score one run in the fifth and one more in the sixth to put some pressure on the heavily favored New London squad.

Tucker Gibbar was 1-for-2 with a double and three RBIs for New London. Kooper Schulte went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and both Josh Catala and Ryan Richey knocked one in.

Dereck Santiago struck out five batters over two innings to earn the win. Seth Bailey threw three innings, and both Josh Catala and Kooper Schulte threw one.

Pekin had previously defeated Lone Tree 3-2 to get their shot at top-seeded New London.

Notre Dame 11, Keota 1

Keota was done in by Notre Dame senior Jackson Brent, who struck out 11 Eagles to aid the Nikes to a big upset victory.

Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Keota’s Colten Clarahan knocked in Chase Sieren for the Eagles’ only run. Notre Dame scored six in the seventh to put it away.

Clarahan started the game, and had to battle with a red-hot Nike lineup that has now scored 57 runs over a four-game winning streak.

Clarahan had six strikeouts in the win, finishing his senior season with 100 on the year.

Notre Dame will now travel to New London on Saturday in a Substate semifinal matchup.