Benton High School baseball shuts out rival Lafayette for the pair’s final meeting in the District Semifinals

(ST. JOSEPH, MO) - In the final ever meeting between rivals Lafayette and Benton High School baseball, the 1 seed Cardinals defeated the 4 seed Fighting Irish, 10-0 in 5 innings in the Class 4 District 16 Semifinals.

Benton junior Boston Cook got the start on the mound and had a very strong performance, 5 innings pitched, 7 strikeouts and only gave up a single hit and no runs.

Senior Cy Polley finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI for Benton, freshman Carson Coy finished 1-for-1 with 1 RBI and sophomore Zander Tiller finished 1-for-3 with 2 RBI.

Lafayette finishes with an 11-16 record in the team's final season of existence.

"We've done so much for each other. They've done so much for me, and they've done so much for our community, and that's that's hopefully the legacy that we can leave here is that we've given back to our community," said Lafayette head coach Matt Jansen. "We've given back to others. We've really invested in each other and we played the game of baseball the right way, and I know they've had a lot of fun and so have I. It's been it's been a really fun group to be a part of, and we're Irish baseball forever."

"Crosstown rivals, it doesn't get any more fun than that. We always meet up in districts, it seems like, basketball, football, baseball, whatever sport it is, it's always fun," said Benton head coach Johnny Coy. "Because it's bragging rights, I'm sad to see it go. "Those kids over there are hurting, I know a lot of them and it's not fun for me either."

Benton improves to 22-13 on the season and will face 2 seed Chillicothe for the District Championship on Thursday, May 21st at 5:30 pm on MoWest's field.