CENTRALIA — The Mt. Vernon Rams will play for the Centralia 3A Baseball Sectional championship Saturday morning, after knocking off Mascoutah 4-2 in the first semifinal at Sprehe Field.

Senior starting pitcher Charlie Houle went the distance for the Rams, wiggling out of jams in each of the last three innings, including the bottom of the seventh, getting Devin Hedley to ground out to Kayden McGee with the tying runs in scoring position to end the game.

Mascoutah managed eight hits to go along with three hits and two hit batters, but Houle was able to minimize the traffic on the bases, allowing only two runs.

Kayden McGee singled and scored on Matthew McKinney’s first inning double to give the Rams a quick 1-0 lead. The Indians answered with a run in the bottom of the second, beating out a two-out, infield hit to tie the game 1-1.

Mt. Vernon took the lead in the fourth, scoring a run without the benefit of a hit. The Rams loaded the bases on a hit by pitch sandwiched by a pair of walks. When the Indians couldn’t complete a double play, Diedrich Smith scored for a 2-1 lead.

The Rams tacked on two more in the sixth on an RBI single by McGee, who took second on the throw home that cut down Alex Kiefer. Tyler Kemp then beat out an infield hit, with McGee scoring all the way from second without a play for a 4-1 lead.

The Indians scored a run in the bottom of the sixth on a bases loaded walk, but stranded the tying runs in each of the final two innings.

Mt. Vernon improves to 23-14 and will now face Effingham Saturday morning at 11:00 for the sectional title and a date in Monday’s Millikin 3A Supersectional.