Colby Ellis, Seth Walton and Edwin Garcia helped their Montgomery County baseball team celebrate another home victory on April 5.

The sophomores lifted the Wildcats to a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over the Silex Owls in 10 innings. Ellis smacked a game-winning, two-run double in the bottom of the 10th, Walton picked up his first victory in the high school level with a strong relief effort and Garcia scored the game-winning run.

The efforts helped the Wildcats extend their home winning streak to 13 games. MCHS hasn’t lost a home game since 2021. The team was 7-0 at home last year, 4-0 in 2022 and is off to a 2-0 start this year.

“It’s really fun playing at home,” Ellis said.

The Wildcats will play their next home game at 5 p.m. on April 11 against Clopton. They have eight home games remaining and will host the Class 3, District 6 tournament in May.

Ellis, who was batting in the fifth spot in the lineup, hit the two-run double on the first pitch off Silex left-hander Chase Vehige with no one out in the bottom of the 10th. It was his only hit in the game.

Ellis now has five hits this season. The sophomore catcher had two hits in the Wildcats’ 13-8 season-opening win over St. Charles on March 15.

“I would like to have much better hitting than I have been doing,” Ellis said. “I did good in my first game, but I have been struggling since then.”

Ellis said he is thrilled to play with his older brother, Jace, who is a senior.

“I really just want to win for him and for all of the other seniors,” Ellis said. “Hopefully, we can go far in the playoffs and win conference.”

With the win, the Wildcats improved to 2-0 in Eastern Missouri Conference play. They also handed Silex its conference loss of the season.

“Conference wins are huge,” Ellis said. “All wins are huge. We don’t play to lose.”

Walton came in relief for Garcia, who was the starting pitcher, in the top of the fifth and gave up one run on one hit and struck out five and walked two. He retired 13 batters in a row before giving up a run in the top of the 10th.

Walton walked the first two batters in the inning, then later gave up a sacrifice squeeze to Joseph Dameron that allowed Ian Beckham to score from third to break the 1-1 tie.

“I let that get into my head a little bit, but at least we got out of it,” Walton said. “My teammates got my back and that’s what helps.”

Walton, who pitched for the second time this season, said he was thrilled his team pulled a win in extra innings. The Wildcats played their first extra-inning game since 2021, when they knocked off Pacific 1-0 in 11 innings at home. The contest against Silex lasted nearly three hours.

“It’s really great and it’s really fun, especially playing around with these guys,” Walton said. “They always keep you entertained and never let you get yourself down. It’s like part of the family.”

After Jacob Hogue and Jace Ellis walked in the bottom of the 10th, Garcia reentered in the game and reached first on a fielder’s choice.

“I just thought that I could go up there and get a hit and make contact and that’s what I did,” said Garcia, who struck out two and walked seven in his four innings of work on the mound.

Then, Colby Ellis delivered the game-winning hit that scored Jace Ellis and Garcia to help the Wildcats beat Silex for the fifth straight meeting.

Ellis, Garcia and Walton are part of a large sophomore class that also includes Noah Beck, Landyn Bender, Chase Queathem, Adrian Combs and Mac Farrar.

“I feel like our sophomore class definitely has a lot of depth,” Garcia said. “We’ll definitely keep on working. I feel like it’s going to go pretty well. We have players for every position, that’s for sure. We have a pretty good class.”

The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead on a Silex infield error in the bottom of the second. The Owls tied it at 1-1 in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Derek Kingan.

Jace Ellis had three hits and senior Dayton Simmons had two for MCHS.