HOOVER, Ala. – Clay High graduate Andy Toelken played a critical role as a relief pitcher for the University of Missouri in their first round playoff game against Texas A & M in the Southeastern Conference championship tournament as the hard-throwing fireballer entered the game with a 10-6 Missouri lead and baserunners at first and third base with just one out. Missouri, with Toelken entering the game in the fourth inning, won 12-7. Missouri eventually lost two games to be eliminated from the tournament.

A grand slam by Missouri slugger Glendinning in the fourth gave Missouri an 8-6 lead against Texas A&M into the fourth inning.

After Houck worked a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, Missouri hitter Chris Cornelius hit a solo homer, his second of the year, to give Mizzou a 9-6 lead. The Tigers added another run on an error with two outs to take a 10-6 lead.

Texas A&M got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI groundout to second base, but that was all despite loading the bases with one out. Junior RHP Andy Toelken (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) relieved Houck after 4.1 and inherited a runners-on-the-corner jam that yielded just one run.

Mizzou tacked on another run on a Harris RBI single following a Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) double in the top of the sixth inning.

After Toelken retired the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth inning, a rain and lightning delayed the game for one hour and 47 minutes. Toelken retired the first batter following the break to send the game through the sixth.

Toelken finished the Texas A & M game with zero hits, two walks and five strikeouts with four groundouts and four flyouts against 18 batters faced.

Missouri’s season ended wtih a 10-3 loss to LSU and a 10-2 loss to South Carolina. Toelken did not play in either game.

For 2016-17, Toelken finishes with a 2.82 earned runs average for second on the Missouri roster with a 5-3 won/lost record and one complete game. In 70.1 innings pitched, Toelken gave up 59 hits, 31 runs (22 earned) with 24 walks and 52 strikeouts.

NCAA Division II

South Region baseball

By VSUAthletics.com

CLEVELAND, Miss.- The Valdosta State baseball team went toe-to-toe with the No. 4 team in the nation on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament in Cleveland, Miss. In the end, however, the Tampa Spartans outlasted the Blazers and used a late surge to end VSU’s season with a 14-5 loss.

Former Keystone Heights High School pitcher Daniel Williams (1-2) was pegged with the loss for the Blazers while Cheyne Bickel (7-4) notched the win for the Spartans. Tampa’s win kept them alive in the NCAA South Regional with a 39-13 record, while the Blazers closed out with a 33-22 mark during the 2017 season.

Six different Blazers recorded hits on Saturday, while Slaughter, White, and Andzel each posted multiple hits in the game.

Clay High graduate Luke Suchon, a Valdosta infielder, added a double to extend his hitting streak to four games. The junior closed out the year with at least one hit in seven of his last eight games, and finished the season with a .364 batting average.

The gridlock didn’t hold for long, thanks to a three-run top half of the fifth inning for the Spartans, and Valdosta State’s chances ultimately faded when Tampa put six on the board with six hits in the seventh inning.

FSU wins four, heads to super

regions

Special to Clay Today

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State University freshman outfielder J.C. Flowers, who played at Oakleaf Junior High and also Oakleaf High School, reversed an 0-21 batting skid with two key hits in a regional elimination game against Tennessee Tech to push the Seminoles to a 5-3 win in that game and an eventual super regional berth this weekend. Flowers hit an RBI single for the go-ahead run against Tennessee Tech to give FSU a 2-1 lead then hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning for a 5-2 lead.

FSU beat Auburn 8-7 and 6-0 to advance and will play Sam Houston State in a three-game series in Tallahassee June 9-11.

Flowers graduated from Trinity Christian Academy.

Fleming Island High grad Rhett Aplin, a starting outfielder for FSU, broke his foot near the end of the season.