Bulldogs win fifth straight regional plaque

RANTOUL — A big-time performance in a big game.

That’s what Mason Orton delivered on Saturday afternoon, helping the second-seeded Mahomet-Seymour baseball team cruise to a 10-0 win in six innings against fifth-seeded Rantoul at Wabash Park as the Bulldogs won their fifth consecutive Class 3A regional title.

Orton went 3 for 3 with a double and four RBI at the plate and threw one-hit ball during 4 2/3 innings on the mound, striking out 10 and only allowing one hit.

Orton’s efforts — along with three hits from Miles Woolsey and two hits apiece from Ray Long and Gavin Bailey — helped the Bulldogs cruised past a Rantoul team looking for the program’s first regional championship since 1992.

Having a Division I recruit like Orton, though, made the difference.

“It means everything,” said Orton, a Northern Illinois signee. “That’s what we strive for. People before us set the standard, and I think we live up to the standard. Now for the younger kids, I think we’re setting the standard for them.” 

Mahomet-Seymour (22-12) struck for three runs in the bottom of the first inning before adding a run in the third, three runs in the fourth and three runs in the sixth. 

Paxson O’Malley hit a single to score Woolsey in walk-off fashion an inning ahead of schedule. 

The Bulldogs took plenty of time for photos at home plate after O’Malley’s hit kept the M-S season going into next week.

“This is our fifth in a row, so we kind of have gotten to a point of (taking) our seniors, our juniors and working our way down,” M-Scoach Nic DiFilippo said. “You never get tired of holding plaques.”

Holden Cargo produced the lone hit for the Eagles (17-13), while Dayton Wilson walked. Other than that, Orton stifled Rantoul before giving way to Max Young. Young did not allow a hit in his 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Despite the ending, the progress Rantoul showed this spring under first-year coach Kyle Lewis was a promising sign. Especially since Cargo is the only senior.

“The development throughout the season has been phenomenal,” Lewis said. “The kids really bought in, and we’ve got a bright future, being very young.” 

M-S will face Chatham Glenwood (20-8) in a sectional semifinal game at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Lincoln. Mt. Zion (21-9) and Champaign Central (24-12-1) play in the first sectional semifinal game at 2 p.m. on Wednesday in Lincoln.

Either way, the Bulldogs know what awaits as the next stage of the postseason approaches.

“We’ve played all of them,” DiFilippo said. “They’ve been great games, and we look forward to it.”