When Montgomery County sophomore Jacob Hogue attempted to catch a fly ball hit by Elsberry’s Gavin Woodson with two outs in the top of the seventh in a key Eastern Missouri Conference game on May 3, he made sure that he was not going to drop it.

“It was actually a little scary because I saw it go up and I took two steps back,” the second baseman said. “I was like, ‘Please no wind.’ It just dropped right into my glove and it worked out perfectly.”

Hogue helped the Wildcats seal a come-from-behind, 11-8 victory over Elsberry to not only remain in the hunt for a share of an EMO title, but clinch their second straight winning season.

MCHS took an 11-5 record into its league game with North Callaway on May 8 on the road. Both teams took an 8-1 conference record into the contest. The two teams were originally scheduled to play each other on April 20, but it was postponed due to rain.

By making the last out of the game, Hogue bounced back from the error he made with two outs in the top of the sixth. He misfielded a ground ball hit by Elsberry’s Gavin Marshall, forcing Colin Phillips to score from third to give the Indians a 6-5 lead. It was Hogue’s first fielding error of his high school baseball career.

“That was tough because I couldn’t really see it off the bat,” Hogue said. “I didn’t see it until it hit the ground the first time. By then, it was too late to try to get around to it.”

Hogue also turned in a strong offensive effort, getting two hits and scoring three runs. He sparked a six-run sixth inning for the Wildcats by smacking a single down the left-field line to start the inning. He scored on a two-run single by Mason Leu that gave the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.

“My mindset going into that is I was going to swing as hard as I can,” Hogue said. “On the first pitch, he put it a little high inside. I put it right down the line.”

Senior Travis Hill scored on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 8-6, junior Jace Ellis scored on a fielding error to boost the lead to 9-6 and junior Dayton Simmons delivered a two-run single to give the Wildcats a five-run lead going into the seventh.

Elsberry rallied to score two runs in the top of the seventh and had runners on second and third before Woodson flied out to Hogue to end the game.

Hogue said he was happy his team pulled off the win over Elsberry on senior day. Hill, Harrison Bishop and manager Zak Rodgers were recognized after the game.

“That means a lot, especially for our seniors,” Hogue said. “This is their last chance to do something big.”

The Wildcats handed the Indians their first conference loss of the season. Elsberry wrapped up its league play at 9-1 and is guaranteed to finish with a share of the EMO title.

MCHS finished its regular season at 14-5 overall and 6-0 at home.

Leu said he is pleased with the way his team played this spring. The Wildcats won their first four games and scored 10 or more runs seven times.

“Last year, we had a lot of high expectations for what we were going to do and we didn’t necessarily achieve it,” Leu said. “This year, we just had fun and played baseball. That got us to win and work hard in practice. It’s nice.”

Hogue has been playing baseball since he was little. Last year, he was one of 10 freshmen who made the varsity team.

“I took a year off in eighth grade, which I kind of regretted,” Hogue said. “But I came back and realized that I had a shot of starting varsity or even farther and I took it.”

Now, Hogue is looking to help the Wildcats clear the district tournament hurdle this spring after they were eliminated in last year’s district semifinals. MCHS earned the No. 2 seed in the Class 3, District 7 tournament at South Callaway. The Wildcats will play Hermann in a district semifinal at 6 p.m. on May 15.

“I think we have a shot to go pretty far,” Hogue said.