Standing on deck with his Montgomery County baseball team trailing the Elsberry Indians 3-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in a Class 3, District 6 semifinal game on May 11 at the MCHS baseball field, Jace Ellis was hoping to get another at-bat to help his team extend its season.

The MCHS senior never got that at-bat.

After seeing teammate Seth Walton go down on strikes to end the game and the Wildcats’ season, all Ellis could do was throw his bat and his helmet on the ground.

“This one hurts bad,” Ellis said.

The Wildcats ended their season at 12-9 with the 3-2 loss to the Indians and were eliminated in district semifinal play for the third year in a row. Ellis and seniors Dayton Simmons, Mason Leu, Bryson Hoffmann and Jake Stellwagen played their last high school baseball games for MCHS.

The Wildcats hosted their first district tournament game since 2019. Coach Don Moultrie said he was disappointed that his team didn’t pull off the win in front of its home fans.

“We had everything set up for it,” he said. “We’re home, we’re hosting and we have five seniors. They were on the stage to do it, but they didn’t quite get it done offensively.”

Just 10 days before, the Wildcats cruised to an 11-1 win over Elsberry on the road. Ellis was the winning pitcher in the contest and threw a complete game.

Ellis was the losing pitcher in the district contest against the Indians, giving up two earned runs on eight hits before being relieved with no outs in the top of the seventh.

Elsberry, the No. 3 seed in the five-team district tournament, scored two runs in the third and one in the sixth to knock off the second-seeded Wildcats. Elsberry pitcher Gavin Woodson struck out 10 batters, including Walton for the final out of the game.

“They threw a different kid we knew who was going to be good,” Ellis said. “We knew we had to hit. We didn’t hit. We didn’t play defense, either.”

MCHS scored both of its runs in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Edwin Garcia and an Elsberry fielding error. The Wildcats had a chance to take the lead with runners on second and third with two outs in the inning, but Simmons flied out to left field.

“I knew we needed another (run),” Ellis said. “The two were great. We were still in it, but we shouldn’t have been ever in a position where we were. The two runs should have been the runs to win the game. That’s what should have happened. It sucks that it didn’t happen and that’s what we’re going to have to live with.”

The Wildcats had just four hits in the game. Ellis, Walton, Leu and junior Jacob Hogue each had a single.

“Nineteen of our 21 outs were flyballs and strikeouts,” Moultrie said. “You can’t win a baseball game in districts with that. You have to put the ball down and put it in play and hit the ball. We didn’t do that today. We didn’t execute offensively, period.”

After the game, the Wildcats held a senior recognition ceremony. The seniors were originally scheduled to be honored on May 7 against New Haven, but weather issues postponed the ceremony.

“It was nice to finally get it in,” Ellis said. “The rain had other plans for us. It sucks that it came after a loss.”

Elsberry, which was scheduled to play top-seeded Hermann in the district finals on May 14, ended an outstanding baseball career for Ellis. He earned all-state honors twice and was named to the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team twice. This year, he was the Wildcats’ leading hitter with a .414 batting average.

“His baseball IQ is tremendous,” Moutrie said.

Ellis remembered the first game he played on March 22, 2021, when he was the winning pitcher in relief in MCHS’ 1-0 season-opening victory over Pacific at home.

“That was a long time ago,” Ellis said.

Now, he is planning on putting away his baseball cleats to concentrate on a future in physical therapy. He will attend the University of Missouri-Columbia next year.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to come back to this community one day and be a physical therapist,” Ellis said. “That’s what I like to do. I suffered a lot of injuries throughout high school. I’ve gotten close to the physical therapist in town and that’s something I want to come back to do.”