“We had our chances. That’s for sure,” McNeely admitted. “We got quite a few runners on base. We just couldn’t make it happen. We just couldn’t get that timely hit.”

It started in the first inning. With one out, Kaden Koeberlein singled to right and Cam Raddatz followed with an infield single. Quest Hull narrowly missed a three-run run homer, as his long fly ball was caught on the warning track.

Effingham had two runners on base in the second, but a double play hurt that threat. They also had a pair of runners on in the fifth and sixth, but couldn’t get any of those across the plate.

The Hearts did score a run in the fourth. Hull led off with a walk. With one out, Colton Webb lined a single to center and Evan Waymoth’s slow grounder to third was bobbled for an error, loading the bases. With two out, Kaden Nichols drew a walk to force in Hull with the run, but a ground out ended the threat.

All total, EHS left 10 runners stranded, with five of those in scoring position.

And after that sixth inning, Sycamore reliever Matthew Rosado retired the final Effingham nine batters and earned the win.

McDevitt cruised through the first five innings. He allowed only one hit and three baserunners. But the Spartans rallied in the sixth.

Joey Puleo hit a slow dribbler toward the pitcher’s mound. McDevitt bobbled it. He managed to get off a backhanded toss, but it was off-target, allowing Puleo to reach on the error. Lead-off hitter Keifer Tamoki then blooped a base hit into short leftfield. Puelo raced to third and just beat the throw there, allowing Tamoki to scoot into second base. Rosado followed with a base hit to tie the game, leaving runners still at first and second and nobody out.

McDevitt then struck out Tommy Townsend and got clean-up hitter Jimmy Amptmann to ground into an inning-ended double play. Hearts first baseman Colton Webb made a terrific stretch to nab the relay throw and still kept his foot on the bag to retire the side and keep the game tied.

McDevitt was able to pitch the seventh and eighth before exceeding his pitch count. He allowed a lead-off double in the bottom of the seventh, but struck out the next three batters. He gave up a one-out single in the eighth, but again, recorded three strikeouts. When he walked off the mound, he knew his was day was finished. His pitch count was at 118.

He finished the day, allowing one unearned run on five hits. He walked just one and struck out 14.

“Our scouting report was spot on,” McNeely explained. “We knew their guys could swing it and they liked to hunt fastballs. Josh knew he had to mix up his pitches today and he did a great job of that.”

“That dude is a competitor,” McNeely said. “And it’s not just sports. Everything he does, he does it with a focus and a purpose. To see how he’s blossomed is a testament to him and how hard he’s worked since his sophomore year. He has worked his tail off. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”

“He was making pitches,” the Sycamore coach added. “He throws hard, but it wasn’t just his velocity. He has a sharp breaking ball and the ability to throw it on any count. He worked inside and out. We haven’t been shut down like that in quite some time.”

McDevitt gave a lot of credit to his catcher, Myles Maxedon.

“He’s been my catcher since we were 8 years old,” the senior hurler said. “We know each other really well. He knows exactly what I want to throw. I’ve been blessed to have a guy like Myles back there. There’s nobody I trust more behind the plate.

“I was proud of the way the whole team battled today,” McDevitt noted. “All we could do was play as hard as we could. To play as well as we did against this type of talent says a lot about our program and our culture.”

The bottom of the ninth proved decisive. Jack Harper came on in relief for the Hearts and was greeted by back-to-back singles by Amptmann and Kyle Hartmann. Both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt and Lucas Winburn was walked intentionally to load the bases and set up a force out at any base.

Collin Severson hit a ground ball to Waymoth at third, who threw home for the force out. But with outs and a 2-2 count on Puleo, a breaking ball bounced near the plate and rolled away, allowing the winning run to race home.

The Hearts completed their season with a 22-17 record and snapped an 81-year drought. The last time an Effingham High School baseball team made a trip to the state tournament was 1942.

“This means a lot,” Hull admitted. “Hopefully, this will inspire the next generation to know they can do this, too.”

“There were a lot of little kids coming out to watch us,” Maxedon added. “We wanted to lead by example. We want to be that inspiration. This means everything to us.”

“We came up short today, but we proved this can be done,” Coach McNeely said. “We were the smallest school here, as far as enrollment, but we proved it’s not impossible to get to the state tournament. It can be done. These kids continued to show up day-in and day-out. When you do that, it will eventually pay off.”