ALTON, Mo. -- Van Buren didn't bring a Gatorade bucket.
After the Bulldogs held off a last gasp comeback from Ellington, held up the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 championship plaque and took a team photo, senior Justin Chilton grabbed a mostly drank 20-ounce bottle of orange Gatorade and splashed the remaining gulp across coach Jacob Black's back.
Mildly doused, Black spun around and lovingly chastised one of his six seniors.
"He messed up my white pants. We still got games to play," Black said. "These seniors, they are everything. They are building our program and we're hoping it is something we can sustain after they are long gone."
The Bulldogs took an 8-0 lead after two innings and won 9-6 for their first district championship since 1999.
"We've been working super hard for this moment right here and we came out on top," Van Buren senior Todd Wilcoxon said.
While some of the kids on the roster have won a district championship in cross country, none have reached this level of success in either basketball or baseball.
"Some of these guys weren't born when the last one was won. First district championship game they've played in any (team) sport," Black said.
Ellington had a pair of errors that prolonged a second inning where Van Buren scored six runs.
"I really think we handed it to them in the first two innings," said Ellington coach Jake Hime after giving due credit to his difficult opponent. "The last five innings we outscored them 6-1. If we catch a couple balls here or there, whole different ballgame. That's the thing about district baseball. You've got to come out and make plays or that's going to be your last game."
The Bulldogs tacked on a run in the fourth and the seniors said afterward they were a little disappointed they didn't find one more run in either the bottom of the fifth or sixth innings to run-rule the Whippets.
They also said they weren't nervous as Ellington made a last gasp rally in the top of the seventh.
Ellington scored three runs and had two on and nobody out for clean-up hitter Jacob Richards. The senior, batting .596, sent the final pitch of his high school career over fence to make it a three-run game.
Richards cut the lead in half, but used a double-edged sword to do so.
His homer also cleared the bases for Wilcoxon, who retired the next three batters.
"That's probably the worst thing that could have happened in that situation," Hime said of the home run. "Hey, great, we scored three runs. But it kind of relieves all the pressure. He gets back on top and they've still got a little bit of a lead. It's tough to regain that momentum. But at the same time, it cuts it to a one-swing ballgame if we can get some baserunners on."
Richards was the only Whippet to get two hits and the team finished with seven. Four of those were in the final inning.
"I don't think we were aggressive enough early, took a lot of fastballs early," Hime said.
Spencer Burnham started on the mound for Van Buren and pitched six clean innings with 11 strikeouts before walking the first batter of the seventh and exiting the game because of his pitch count.
"I felt great, electric, just a big game," he said. "My guys know how to pump me up over there (in the dugout) singing those retro songs."
In relief, Wilcoxon was knocked around initially, called for a balk that cost him a run, but ultimately closed out the game on 15 pitches.
"Todd Wilcoxon and Spencer Burnham have kind of been our cornerstones the last two years. I gave them the ball in every big game," said Black, who added that softball winning a state championship in the fall added motivation. "It made us hungry. We want to do, we want to get there. These guys came in and worked hard since Aug. 1 ... I don't underestimate their abilities or how far they can go. We just want to ride along and have run."
Cameron Brewer pitched in the loss and allowed 13 hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
The top four of the Bulldog lineup -- Burnham, Trey Nicholson, Wilcoxon and Chilton -- had nine hits, scored six runs and had four RBIs.
Wilcoxon had a double for the team's only extra-base hit.
Van Buren will play South Pemiscot in the first round of the state playoffs at 4 p.m. Monday. South Pemiscot defeated Campbell 19-15 in a game that set a state record with 12 combined home runs.
"We've not changed anything and just have fun. We know we have the talent, we know we have the ability. The only person that can beat us is ourselves," Wilcoxon said. "We're not done yet."