Davis County quiets Van Buren

365 days. 8,760 hours. 525,600 minutes.

No matter how you say it, not much has changed, and Van Buren was treated to a big helping of déjà vu.

One year ago, Calvin Mathews and Davis County won a 3-0 game to bounce Van Buren from the district tournament. Tuesday, Mathews fired a two-hit shutout at the second-ranked Warriors (26-2) and No. 5 Davis County (28-4) is moving on to the district final with a 2-0 win.

The Van Buren lineup hitting .357 and scoring more than 11 runs per game entering the semifinal showdown once again came up empty and the postseason moves on without them.

?Great pitching beats great hitting seven days a week and twice on Sunday. That?s baseball,? said Van Buren head coach Chad Scott. ?You have a kid like that who?s a Division I prospect, and we look at it as a challenge. But he?s damn good.?

Van Buren starter Court Garrett was an equally impressive counterpart tossing six innings of three-hit ball at the Mustangs only to have two unearned runs be the difference. Kyle Graves lined a two-out, two-RBI double to the gap in right-center field to bring home two runs and give Mathews all the cushion he needed.

A line drive fell out of the glove of Van Buren second-baseman Caleb Millard to put Clint Foster on board to lead off the bottom of the third. Foster was still there with two outs, and Mathews kept the inning alive with a base hit to set up Graves? game-changing rip.

?I couldn?t ask for a better kid to be at the plate,? said Davis County head coach Todd White. ?He?s a senior, he?s been through the trenches and is well deserving.?

Mathews was perfect over the next three innings as Davis County clung to the lead.

?The hit pumped me up a little bit, I started throwing a little harder and the momentum got going,? Mathews said. ?I had been nervous all day. All I could do is throw strikes, try to mix things up, and I?m lucky we came up with some timely hitting.?

The University of Iowa recruit finished the game with nine strikeouts and now has 107 strikeouts compared to one walk in 59 innings this season.

Chris Wilson, who was responsible for both Warrior hits, kept his team alive with a two-out single in the seventh. But it couldn?t be sustained as Robby Laughlin?s chopper up the middle ended as an unassisted fielder?s choice at second base to finish the game.

?They have good pitchers, they have a good team, and unfortunately, we had to play them tonight,? said Garrett, Van Buren?s tough-luck loser. ?It?s tough, but that?s the way it is.?

Garrett finished the game with eight strikeouts, allowed three hits and walked one.

Wilson led off the second inning with a base hit, got on board in the seventh and Austin Countryman reached on an error in the third as the only three baserunners on the night. Ty Smith took the game?s opening pitch deep to right field, but a strong wind blowing in made for an easy catch by right fielder Aaron Halls.

Wilson and Countryman are two of the five seniors ? along with Jory Heckenberg, Millard and Garrett ? who have helped Van Buren to an 88-18 record over the past four years.

?They?ve meant a lot to the program and really raised the bar. Little kids come to the game and want to be like these guys,? Scott said. ?We expect to win at Van Buren, and that?s what I feel like we?ll continue to do simply because of these five seniors.?

Davis County, a state-tournament qualifier in 2010 for the first time in school history, still has two games in the way of a return trip. The Mustangs will play Winfield-Mount Union/WACO in the district final at 7 p.m. Saturday in Mount Pleasant.

Van Buren vs. Davis County

Van Buren ? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ? 0 2 3

Davis County ? 0 0 2 0 0 0 X ? 2 3 1

VAN BUREN ? Smith 0-3; Scott 0-3; Heckenberg 0-3; Wilson 2-3; Laughlin 0-3; Garrett 0-2; Bartholmew 0-2; A. Countryman 0-2; Millard 0-2

Pitching ? Garrett (L) 6 INN, 3H, 1BB, 7K, 0ER

DAVIS COUNTY ? Martsching 0-3; Fligg 0-3, R; Mathews 1-3; Graves 1-2, BB, 2B, 2RBI; Rook 1-3; Garmon 0-3; Davidson 0-2; Halls 0-2; Foster 0-2; Mikels R

Pitching ? Mathews (W) 7 INN, 2H, 0BB, 9K, 0ER