VAN BUREN -- Eli Roark was achingly close to a perfect game.
The Naylor righty played to his defense, his coach's advice and top-seed Neelyville's weakness en route to an 11-0 upset in five innings in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 semifinals Tuesday in Van Buren.
Roark was perfect through 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts when Jesse Griffin hit a soft line drive into shallow left field. Roark still nearly faced the minimum when the next batter, Tyler Lowe, grounded up the middle.
The Eagles tried for the double play, but Lowe beat out the throw to first base, and then Roark got a flyout to center to complete the one-hitter for No. 2 Naylor (9-8), which will face Ellington at 5 p.m. in the district championship Thursday.
"It was hard, being a great hitting team. When they got that hit it kind of depressed me because I wanted that perfect game," Roark said. "But it is whatever. We got the win so I was happy."
Neelyville beat Naylor 11-0 earlier in the season and had won five straight by at least 10 runs against the Eagles going back to 2012, when Naylor beat Neelyville 2-1 for the district championship. Naylor also won a district title in 2013, but has not won one since.
The nearly perfect scorebook was textbook to what Naylor coach Jim Carrier has been preaching all season.
"If you get ahead in the count and they give you the gift that you can strike them out, go for it," he said. "If not, give them something they can hit and let our gloves go to work because we have some of the best gloves in the league. You can't have a big inning if no runners are on."
As he's been doing all year, Carrier had the shift on all game, with either the shortstop or the second baseman playing on the opposite side of second base, challenging whoever is at the plate to hit to opposite field.
"High school players love to pull it.," Carrier said. "I just gambled on it."
With three infielders playing for the pull, Carrier tells his pitchers to throw pitches they intend to be hit. Like off speed and inside, the kind that turn into routine grounders that will have a hard time finding holes against the shift.
"They've had a Golden Glove infield long before I got here," Carrier said.
All season long, Naylor has run drills where the hitters can hit the ball, but still struggle to score because of the strong defense and the shift.
"The games we've lost this season, I call it hubris or taking on too much responsibility in the age of pitchers. These young men who pitch on the mound think that the whole game rests on their shoulders," Carrier said, adding that pitchers in those situations try to strike everyone out and make mistakes.
In comes Roark, who had 10 infield outs out of 15 and four consecutive groundouts at one point in the middle innings.
"I knew since we've played them for forever, that they were a quick fastball hitting team, so I kinda slowed it up for them and got them off speed," Roark said. "We haven't won here in forever, we haven't beat this team, a good hitting team. I'm just a young guy throwing off speed, stuff like that and it got the job done. So I'm really happy."
Added Neelyville coach Tyler Thompson, "We didn't do a very good job of waiting back on off speed today. When we did, that's when we hit the ball hard. But we swung at too many pitches out of the zone and borderline pitches that might have been balls early in the count."
Offensively, Naylor jumped out with eight runs through two innings, including a six-run second.
"Naylor just came to play. You've got to give all the credit to them. They came out and swung it, put some runs on the board. When we hit the ball hard, and we did, it seemed to be right at people and they made the plays. That's baseball some days. That's all I can say," Thompson said.
Jordan Cook and Evan Bergeron scored in both innings. Chase Sarabia also scored twice after singling and scoring in the fifth.
Sarabia finished 4 for 4 with two doubles. Cook, Bergeron, Seth Jones, Cody Jones and Roark all finished with two hits as Naylor got runs from eight different spots in the lineup.
The Tigers (16-6) will lose seniors Chaney Trout, Wyatt Moon, Matt Dollins, Adam Mize, Carter Petty, Griffin and Lowe.
"They meant a ton for us, they are the heart and soul of our team with seven of them," Thompson said. "What they've done can't be replaced. What we've built with them and what they've built, that can't be replaced either. All the success in the future is dictated on what they've built here so far. It isn't the outcome we wanted for them, but that is the game of baseball some days."
Ellington 3, Alton 0
Cameron Brewer, Dillon Butler and Caleb Richards combined in the shutout win in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 semifinals.
Brewer pitched the first 2 2/3 innings and allowed three hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Ellington coach Jake Hime pulled Brewer, the team's top pitcher, in order to throw him again in the district championship against Naylor.
Bulter got the final out of the third inning and Richards was nearly perfect over the final four with five strikeouts. Alton's only baserunner against Richards was off an error. Second-seeded Ellington (15-7) scored two runs in the top of the first inning to give the trio room to work against No.3 Alton (9-12).
"I think that just gave our guys a lot of confidence to throw strikes," Hime said. "The boys played solid defense all day, out dugout was up, the intensity was where it needed to be."
The Whippets later added an insurance run in the sixth inning.
"I thought we looked pretty good at the plate. We took too many fastballs early in the count," Hime said.