The Pleasantville baseball team defeated Chariton in the Class 2A State Semifinals Thursday night in Carroll to punch their ticket to the state championship heard live on 95.3 KNIA.

Braylon Bingham got the start for Pleasantville and pitched all seven innings giving up six hits and one run. The Trojans struck first offensively in the contest, scoring on a Bingham RBI single in the third inning which scored Noah Rist. The Chargers answered back with a run of their own in the top of the fourth after an error to even the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Pleasantville scored Brayden Kennedy and Brody Adreon after Rist and Luke Vestal both reached on errors to take a 3-1 lead which would end the scoring for the night.

The Trojans had one more base runner in the game when Logan Roff reached on an error in the fifth inning. Chariton had runners on base in both the fifth, sixth, and seventh inning but Bingham was able to strand all three to secure the 3-1 win over the team who knocked them out of the state tournament a year ago. Head Coach Luke Adreon says he feels last year’s experience at the state tournament helped his team and that he is happy his guys are able to showcase their talent on the biggest stage. 

“It’s just great. I’m so happy for the kids. I spend a lot of time with these kids and they work their butts off and with being young and I think last year’s experience helped us a ton showing up here and getting ready to play. They work their butts off and I’m just so happy for them and excited for them to get a chance to show their talents in front of the whole state in a state championship game.”

The Trojans will take on Unity Christian tonight in the Class 2A state title game back at Merchants Park in Carroll with a chance to bring home the school’s first state baseball championship. You can hear the game live at 7:30 pm on 95.3 KNIA with the pregame starting at 7:15.