Chillicothe High School baseball erases huge deficit to beat Savannah, win first outright MEC title in school history

(SAVANNAH, MO) - In a battle of two of the best high school baseball games in Class 4, Monday's game between #6 Chillicothe and Savannah lived up to the hype.

Savannah jumped out to a 7-2 lead after four innings. But the defending state champion Hornets didn't waver. In the top of the sixth inning, Chillicothe's bats caught fire and the team incredibly scored eight runs in the frame to eventually come away with a 10-8 victory.

Seven Chillicothe batters had at least 1 RBI, senior Dane Ireland finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and junior Howie Donoho was 1-for-5 with 3 RBI. Donoho also came in on the mound in the final two innings and prevented Savannah from pulling any closer than two runs down. He had five strikeouts in those two innings.

The win gives Chillicothe its first Midland Empire Conference regular season title since 2017 and first outright title in school history.

"All year we've just been the team that's never given up. All of us trust each other and I have faith in everyone above me and everyone behind me to get on base or hit me in whenever I get on base," said Donoho. "(Winning the conference) is just like icing on the cake and there's gonna be more to come later in this season. We're not done yet."

"We've got a bunch of grinders on this team is what we've got. They just don't give up. They've never given up in the last two years," said head coach Troy Figg. "Their backs have been against the wall before, but they just do a great job and they encourage each other. They're great teammates. They've been around each other a long time. It's a tough conference. This is not an easy conference, it's not an easy district either."

Chillicothe, now 19-9 on the season, will face Savannah in the Class 4 District 16 Tournament Semifinals on Tuesday, May 16th at 7 pm on MoWest's baseball field. Savannah will have the three seed in the tournament, Chillicothe with the two seed.