BRIDGETON — As Duchesne baseball coach Mike Hollander tracked down the relief pitcher he was going to send into the game, a voice in the dugout questioned the need.
"I asked him if he was ready to go because he was probably going to come in after this batter, and someone in the dugout said, 'Next batter? We're going to get a double play here and the game will be over,' " Hollander recalled.
That message was prophetic.
Duchesne got a game-ending double play at Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex on Wednesday evening to lock down a 2-1 victory over St. Charles West in the Class 4 District 6 title game.
"We wanted to leave a mark on Class 4 and show that we can compete with these teams," Duchesne senior Jack Burle said.
Duchesne (22-7) will travel to MICDS (19-8) for a Class 4 sectional game on Tuesday. The Rams shut out Clayton 9-0 in the Class 4 District 5 title game Wednesday.
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The defending Class 3 state champion Pioneers got bumped up to Class 4 at the beginning of the season due to the Missouri State High School Activities Association's success factor for non-boundary schools.
The Pioneers captured a district title for the second successive season, although this is their first Class 4 district crown.
"I think every district championship feels special," Jackson Nikodym said.
With the tying run at first base and St. Charles West's most dangerous hitter, Brenan Goering, at the plate, Hollander stayed with Nikodym on the mound while hunting for the reliever just in case.
Goering drilled a fastball right up the middle and all Nikodym could do was swipe his glove at where the ball could be.
"I just stuck my glove down there and it was there," the junior said.
Without wasting a second, Nikodym fished the still-spinning ball out of his glove and fired it over to first base for the game-ending double play. Not prone to emotional outbursts, Nikodym couldn't help himself after the play.
"I usually don't show emotions, so that was pretty new," Nikodym said. "We got that double play and I was so excited I just slammed my glove down."
St. Charles West (16-12) had exactly who they wanted at the plate, but coach Nuru Allen could only tip his cap to Nikodym's play.
"He hit probably the second-hardest hit ball of the day, and just goes into a double play. That's just baseball," Allen said. "Their kid pitched great. He kept us off balance, and we did square him up. We hit it right back to their defense."
Nikodym collected his third complete game of the season, giving up one run on eight hits and striking out seven.
The complete-game effort was no surprise to his coach.
"When we let him go, we tell him that it's his game and he's not coming out until he hits his limit," Hollander said. "We've had two games leading up to this one like that and each time he made it all the way."
While Nikodym and his defense held the Warriors in check, senior Jack Burle was the offense.
Literally.
"He's just a great hitter," Nikodym said. "That's all there is to it. He showed that tonight."
Burle went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and was a triple shy of a cycle.
The Pioneers only mustered three hits.
"After he got that RBI one of the guys said we have three hits and they're all Jack," Hollander said.
Burle slammed a no-doubter home run in the third inning to break the deadlock on the first pitch he saw.
"I was just trying to make good contact and hit the ball well," Burle said.
It was, in Allen's eyes, the only mistake pitch that Goering made all night.
The senior went 4 1-3 innings for the Warriors, striking out seven, giving up two runs on three hits before hitting his pitch limit.
"He just grinds and he won't give an inch," Allen said. "He truthfully made one mistake, and that was the first pitch to Burle, who deposited it (over) right field. I'm going to miss that kid. He's been part of St. Charles West for seems like eight years and he's going to be someone I know I'll miss."
Goering and junior Andrew Voelkl collected two hits apiece for the Warriors with Voelkl tallying the lone RBI.
The Warriors have played for a district title in four of the last five seasons, winning three successive titles from 2021-23 and Allen points to the senior class as being a big reason to that success.
"A lot of the success we've had as a program has been off the backs of the seniors," Allen said. "They've all meant a lot to this program."
With MICDS standing in the way of another trip to the quarterfinal round, Burle knows it'll take a similar approach on Tuesday at MICDS.
"They're going to throw their dude and we just have to have good at-bats like we did today and see what we can do," Burle said.