The 2019 National Trail Baseball Tournament will be played next week.

North Clay will enter as the top seed, while South Central is seeded second. St. Anthony is No. 3, followed by Altamont, Dieterich, Windsor/Stew Stras, Neoga, Brownstown/St. Elmo and Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City.

All first round and semifinal round games will be played at the school with the higher seed.

BSE and CHBC will open the tournament today (Friday) at 4 p.m. The winner of that contest will face top-seeded North Clay at 4 p.m. Monday.

There will be three other games Monday, as well, and each one will begin at 4 p.m. They are Dieterich at Altamont; Neoga at South Central; and WSS at St. Anthony.

The semifinals are scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The third place and championship contests will be play Friday at Paul Smith Field in Effingham. The third place game will begin at 4 p.m., followed by the championship game at 7 p.m.

St. Anthony in not only the defending champion, but it has won the NTC Tourney the last four years in a row

Gavin Braunecker tossed a one-hitter and St. Anthony scored two late runs without a hit, en route to a 3-1 road victory Tuesday over St. Elmo/Brownstown.

Braunecker allowed just one unearned run, while walking two and striking out 11. He went 6.2 innings and left after his pitch count reached 108. Aaron Webb came in to get the final out and record the save.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Angelo Mendella walked, Jack Hoene was hit by a pitch and Kaden Fearday delivered a two-out RBI single. SEB tied the score in the bottom of the inning.

It stayed 1-1 until the sixth. Kaden Fearday was hit by a pitch and Davis Tingley walked to start the decisive two-run frame. The tie-breaking run scored on an error and the second tally came across due to a wild pitch.

The Bulldogs improved to 14-6 and have now won eight of their last nine games. They will play at home Thursday against Webber.

St. Anthony sprayed hits over all over the field Thursday and rolled to a 12-0, five-inning victory at home over Webber.

The Bulldogs racked up 15 hits, with 12 different batters having at least one. And they scored runs three in four straight innings, en route to a 9th win in their last 10 games.

St. Anthony also received a strong pitching performance from Seth Hotze, who allowed just two hits over four scoreless innings. Hotze walked one and struck out four. Josh Blanchette pitched the fifth.

The Bulldogs scored what proved to be the winning runs with a three-first. Jack Hoene was hit by a pitch and Kaden Fearday singled to get things going. Davis Tingley drove in the first run with a double, followed by RBI singles from Aaron Webb and Logan Antrim.

The hosts pushed across three more runs in the second. Brody Niebrugge singled and scored when Hoene ripped a two-out triple. Kaden Fearday and Tingley added RBI base hits to extend the lead to 6-0.

In the third, Eli Moore drove in a run with a single, Niebrugge added an RBI triple and Will Hoene drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly. St. Anthony had five more hits in the fourth and scored the final three runs of the game.

The Bulldogs, who improved to 15-6, will play at home Monday in the National Trail Conference Baseball Tournament. They will face Windsor/Stew-Stras at 4 p.m.

The St. Anthony Junior High Bullpups defeated South Central 7-1 Saturday to earn a trip to the IESA Class 1A State Baseball Tournament.

The state tourney will be played Friday and Saturday at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria.

The Bullpups, who are 9-8 on the season, will play Normal Epiphany (13-9) in the opening game at 9:30 a.m. Friday. The winner of that contest will advance to the semifinals and face either Jacksonville Our Savior or Delevan at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

The third place game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, with the championship contest to follow at 4 p.m.