It was 3A Regional Baseball on Monday at the Rock Creek Regional with Rock Creek knocking off Sabetha 7-4 in a rematch of the 2019 state championship game while Nemaha Central survived a scare from #8 seed St. Mary's before rallying to win 9-8.  

Rock Creek 7, Sabetha 4

It was a 1-1 game going into the bottom of the third inning when the #3 seed Mustangs took a 2-1 advantage and then went ahead 5-1 with three more tallies in the fourth. The Bluejays batled back with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to make it 5-4, but Rock Creek added two insurance runs in the sixth and held on for the win. 

Kaleb Evans allowed five runs on five hits in five innings for Sabetha while Darin Funk and Marcus Bauman both went 2-4 to lead the Jays offense.  Leadoff hitter Brooks Whaley scored four of the seven runs for Rock Creek who improved to 16-5 and will face Silver Lake in the semifinals on Wednesday after the Eagles won 3-0 against Marysville.  Sabetha ended their season with a 13-8 record.   

Nemaha Central 9, St. Mary's 8

It certainly wasn't a typical #1 versus #8 seed matchup with both teams using four pitchers in a marathon that saw a combined 17 runs on 25 total hits and 19 runners left on base.  Nemaha Central took a 1-0 lead into the third inning when the Bears plated two runs only to have the Thunder tie the score at two then score three times in the fourth to take a 6-2 advantage heading into the fifth inning. 

That's when St. Mary's pieced together six runs on six hits and took an 8-6 lead.  Yet, Nemaha scratched across a pair in the fifth and tied the game with a run in the sixth before getting the game-winning walkoff RBI hit from Landen Baker to win it in the bottom of the seventh.  

It was the third hit of the day for Baker who drove in four runs and also allowed just two runs while striking out six batters in the first two and a third innings of the game.  Dalton Heurter, Zac Kramer, Damon Koch, Ryan Lueger and Brayden Uphaus all had multiple hits as well with Kramer scoring three times and pitching the second two and a third innings for the Thunder before leaving with trouble in the fifth.  Uphaus got the win tossing the final inning and two thirds for Nemaha Central, who improved to 18-3 on the season.  

Nemaha Central will face Rossville in the semifinal game at 2:00 PM Wednesday with live coverage on KNZA 103.9 FM and the winner advancing to the Regional championship at 5:30.