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Illinois Valley

Hall’s ‘Comeback Kids’ fall short by one run to Monmouth-Roseville

Tom Keegan: ‘It was a bad day to have a bad day’

Hall's Hunter Edgcomb reacts after sliding safe into third base during the Class 2A Regional semifinal game on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at Princeton High School.

A Hall mom cheering for the Red Devils Thursday said, “Let’s go, boys, you’re the Comeback Kids!”

And come back they did, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a two-run triple by Hunter Edgcomb to come back within one run in Thursday’s regional semifinal against Monmouth-Roseville at Prather Field in Princeton.

The comeback kids just ran out of outs, falling 5-4 to the Titans, ending their season at 24-11-1.

“Shows who we are, fighting all the way to the end,” Edgcomb said.

“That last inning kind of shows who we are and who we’ve been all year. Just sucks we couldn’t put the pieces together early on to make it convincing. But we went down with a fight,” Hall senior Braden Curran said.

Geno Ferrari led off the Hall seventh with a single to left, and Noah Plym walked. Jack Curran grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Ferrari avoided the tag by Mon-Rose third baseman Liam Parker to load the bases.

Hall's Noah Plym is called out for going outside the baseline as Monmouth-Roseville's third baseman Liam Parker holds the ball during the Class 2A Regional semifinal game on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at Princeton High School.

With one out, Braden Curran also grounded into a fielder’s choice at third with Plym retired at the bag, but Ferrari scored to make it 5-2.

Edgcomb found some of that Red Devil magic with a bloop down the first-base line, which skipped past Carlson in right field for a triple, sending the Curran twins running a relay home to pull Hall within 5-4.

“That’s where I wanted to be. That’s where we all wanted to be in the last inning. Not making that last out and keep it going,” Edgcomb said.

“He’s the kid we want up there. Everybody trusts him to do something, and he came through,” Braden Curran said.

Mon-Rose sophomore starter Keegan Smith retired Greyson Bickett on a groundout to third, sending the Titans (15-15) to Saturday’s regional finals at 11 a.m. against Rock Island Alleman (21-11-1).

The Pioneers (21-15) beat Kewanee 7-3 on Wednesday.

“Whatever mistake we made, they capitalized on it. A walk, a booted ball, can’t finish the back end of a double play. All that stuff mounted up and hurt,” Hall coach Tom Keegan said. “We did mount a little rally. That loomed large for us without a doubt. But a bad day to have a bad day.”

Hall's Jimmie Jablonski throws to first as Monmouth-Roseville's Nick Huston beats out the throw during the Class 2A Regional semifinal game on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at Princeton High School.

Mon-Rose coach Mike Huston said to beat a team like Hall in the postseason means a lot.

“They are the standard of baseball in this area and this conference, and they’re well-coached,” he said. “We didn’t have a real good showing in conference (13-3 loss), but they also didn’t see our No. 1 (Smith). I thought Keegan came out and pitched really well tonight. We got some timely hits, and the boys have been playing good baseball.

“We needed a win like this.”

Smith, who pitched a complete game, allowing four hits with four earned runs while fanning eight, said it all went according to plan for the Titans.

“Big thing we focused on this week was limiting walks. We played them three weeks ago, we walked quite a few and hit quite a few,” Smith said. “We came in ... (saying), ‘We can play with these guys. We can play with anybody in the state. We’ve just got to limit walks, put guys on, move them over. Got to score runs.’

“First inning we put two on the board, and I was like, ‘Here we go. We’re rolling. We’re right on plan,’ and we just kept going. It was exactly how we drew it up.”

All five of the Titans’ runs on the day were unearned, with Hall making four errors. They scored two runs after two outs in the first with the help of a Hall error. Tyler Carlson singled in the first run with Nick Huston reaching home on a RBI hit by Parker a hair before Carlson was tagged out at second to end the inning.

Ferrari, who went 1 for 2, got one run back with a RBI hit to left to score Bickett in the home half of the first.

Mon-Rose opened up a 5-1 lead in the third, scoring three runs on just one hit with the help of three Hall errors.

Hall starter Luke Bryant was tagged for all five runs, all unearned, allowing three hits and three walks with three strikeouts over three innings.

“Got a good group of seniors moving on. Now we hand it over to everybody else and see if we can get something going next season,” Keegan said.

Mon-Rose will face an Alleman team it lost 18-3 to on April 14. Coach Huston said it was the Titans’ worst showing by far.

“We struggled. Made a lot of mistakes. We were still figuring out a lot of things,” he said. “I think we match up well with them. We’ve got the people in the right positions now. It will be exciting.”

Kevin Hieronymus

Kevin Hieronymus

Kevin has been sports editor of the BCR since 1986, covering Bureau County and IL Valley Sports. Was previously sports editor of the St. Louis Daily News and a regular contributor for the St. Louis Cardinals Magazine. He is a member of the IBCA and Illinois Valley Hall of Fames. He is one of 4 sportswriters from his tiny hometown Atlanta, IL