CARBONDALE, Ill. — A lot has happened since 2012.
What hasn’t happened since then has been a state appearance for the St. Anthony baseball team.
That all changed Monday at Abe Martin Field on the campus of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale when the Bulldogs punched their ticket to the Class 2A State Final Tournament after a 5-0 win over Mt. Carmel in the Class 2A Carbondale (Southern Illinois University) Super-Sectional.
The Bulldogs struck first with three runs in the opening frame.
Beau Adams and Aiden Lauritzen were both hit by pitches.
Brock Fearday then flew out to left before Connor Roepke hit an RBI single, scoring Adams.
Courtesy runner Ryan Schmidt then scored after Brady Hatton grounded into a fielder’s choice and Sam Link followed with an RBI triple.
Will Fearday then grounded out to end the stanza.
Preston Will opened the bottom of the first with a leadoff walk.
Jaxon Browning, though, grounded into a double play and Andrew Gillihan grounded out to third to end the inning.
Henry Brent started the second with a base hit.
Max Koenig then laid down a sacrifice bunt, pushing Brent to second and Adams flew out to left, but allowed Brent to tag from second to third in the process.
Lauritzen then hit a single, scoring Brent.
Brock Fearday was then hit by a pitch. Roepke then flew out to right to end the inning.
Lauritzen then got Levi Banks and Asher Coston to ground out. He yielded a walk to Ryder Sloss before Dakota Mounts struck out to end the inning.
Hatton started the top of the third with a double. Link then sacrifice bunted Hatton to third.
Hatton was then forced out at home on a fielder’s choice and Brent grounded out to end the frame.
Brendan Bowser and Shain Meador started the bottom of the third with back-to-back walks. Will and Browning struck out and Gillihan flew out to end the threat.
Koenig lined out to start the top of the fourth. Adams then flew out to left and Lauritzen flew out to center.
Banks struck out to start the bottom of the fourth. Coston then grounded out to short and Sloss drew a walk.
Mounts then hit a single, but Bowser popped out to Lauritzen in foul territory, ending the inning.
Brock Fearday and Roepke flew out to start the top of the fifth.
Hatton then hit a single, but Link grounded out to third to retire the side.
Meador popped out to short to start the bottom of the frame. Will then grounded out and Browning did the same.
Will Fearday was hit by a pitch to start the top of the sixth. Brent then bunted into a fielder’s choice but was safe on the play. Koenig then did the same, though he was called out.
Adams was then hit by a pitch, but Mt. Carmel got out of the inning with Lauritzen grounded into a double play.
Gillihan popped out to start the bottom of the sixth. Banks then hit a single.
Roepke then threw out courtesy runner Brody English at second before Coston grounded out, ending the inning.
Brock Fearday then started the top of the seventh with a fly out. Roepke then hit a triple before Hatton hit an RBI single, making it 5-0.
Link then popped out to third and Will Fearday flew out to retire the side.
Lauritzen yielded a leadoff walk to Sloss to start the bottom of the frame.
Mounts then grounded into a fielder’s choice and Bowser did the same.
Meador then hit a single before Will flew out to left, ending the contest.
St. Anthony will play Wilmington on Friday at 7 p.m. at Dozer Park in Peoria.
The winner will play for the state championship Saturday against either Maroa-Forsyth or Sterling (Newman Central Catholic) at 7 p.m. The losers will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday.