2016 Northeast Kansas League Legion Baseball Standings - click here

2016 McDonald's "Players of the Game" on KNZA - click here

2016 AAA State Tournament Bracket (at Great Bend) - click here (Oskaloosa)

2016 AA State Tournament Bracket (at Fort Scott) - click here (Doniphan County) 

Only 1-3 in previous trips to the AA legion State tournament in their second game at State after a first round win, Doniphan County changed that fortunate on Thursday claiming the 5-3 win over host Fort Scott to move into the Winner bracket final, Friday night. 

Fort Scott struck first scoring two in the bottom of the first getting two walks and two doubles and along with a passed ball went up 2-0 after just one inning. An RBI single added another run for Fort Scott as they went up 3-0 through three innings. Doniphan County had spoiled scoring opportunities early stranding players in scoring position with limited hits in the first four innings but in the fifth Hunter Idol started the inning with a hit by pitch then Reid Greaser and Cuttar Huss each walked to load the bases with no outs. Nathan Gaarder was then hit by a pitch and brought in the first run of the game for Doniphan to make it 3-1, looking to add more in the fifth but ended the inning with only one run as Fort Scott made Doniphan strand the bases loaded. In the top of the sixth Doniphan County got more free passes with four walks, one walking a run in to make it 3-2 with one out. Then Gaarder delivered the hit of the game clearing the bases on a triple giving Doniphan the 5-3 advantage.

Down to the bottom of the seventh Fort Scott had two quick outs on a lineout to third and fly ball to left field but picked up two walks off Brody Winder to make things interesting in the seventh but just like the first round the game ended on a called strike three for Doniphan County as Winder struck out the final batter to give Doniphan County the win. 

Winder tossed all seven innings giving up three runs on five hits, six walks, two hit batters and stuck out 12 to move to 10-0 on the year on the mound, while Gaarder delivered the three RBI triple that produce the winning runs in the game finishing 1-2 with four RBI, walk and hit by pitch. Both Winder and Gaarder earned McDonald's "Player of the Game" honors on KNZA. Doniphan County only registered four hits in the game but drew nine walks and had two hit batters. 

The win pushes Doniphan County to 31-2 on the season, one win shy of the season record for most wins for a Doniphan legion team (32 wins by 2008) and the win moves Doniphan to the winner bracket final where they will take on Larned at 6:00pm on Friday and win or loss will play on Saturday at least one (click on KNZA Play by Play Sports link under Listen Live menu tab for online stream). Larned won their winner bracket semifinal 10-0 in five innings over Goodland, while Marysville and Russell each staved off elimination by beating Iola 16-4 in five innings and Colby 8-0 in five innings, respectively.