REMINGTON — Run chains and championship games, that’s what Hornets baseball does.

In an ode to the University of Miami’s turnover chain, Rossville’s varsity baseball team took the tradition and added a twist of its own by donning each player to cross home plate with the jewelry.

On Monday night, the chain was passed around often as the Hornets secured their first sectional championship since 2019 over county rival Clinton Central 12-2 in the Class A, Sectional 54 championship at Remington Park.

After winning three straight sectional titles from 2017-19 and making a state finals appearance in that stretch, Rossville added to its recent baseball success and now plays Cowan at 11 a.m. Saturday in the regional semifinal at Central Catholic's Leming Field. 

For the Hornets and head coach Brad Scott, the approach was a free and easy one.

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“I think it’s just our approach in general throughout the whole game and the whole idea is to just have fun,” Scott said. “We’ve already put the body of work in, alright so let’s just go out and put seven innings together and have some fun.”

Rossville only needed five innings, however, as it erupted in the bottom of the second with seven runs.

Ozzie Meeks got the Hornets on the board first with a pop fly to right field before Rossville put three consecutive pitches into play. With a steal of home by Meeks, followed by an error from Clinton Central, Lance Hanna finally capped off the barrage with a triple to left field and two scores.

Hanna led Rossville with three hits and four runs batted in.

Rossville pitcher Eric Homco touched on the final stretch of the Hornets’ regular season as the moment in which they finally began to round into championship form.

“To be able to come out on the field and actually play and win it as us, it means a lot to our team because we’ve had some ups and downs this year but I feel like towards the last three games of the regular season, we really pulled together as a team and became a family,” Homco said.

In one of its first games of the season, Rossville made easy work of Clinton Central with finals of 13-3 and 10-1.

The road to the championship matchup against a county rival came with a first-round victory over Tri-County before defeating Sheridan 7-3 in Monday afternoon's semifinal.

Clinton Central didn’t go away quietly after cutting into the Hornets' lead with a fly ball by Klayton Stevens that led to a Rossville error and resulted in two Bulldog scores in the top of the fifth.

The Hornets took Clinton Central’s score in stride when in the bottom of the fifth, Rossville scored on its final four at bats to get the game away for good as Jace Jacoby’s hit to center field delivered the finishing blow.

When reflecting on the sectional victory, Scott noted that the win was even sweeter after the Hornets came up short a season ago in the sectional championship against Clinton Central.

“It feels good, it feels really good for all the players,” Scott said. “You put in all the time and hard work and the guys that were here last year obviously it ended differently in the sectional championship watching Clinton Central celebrate so I’m just really excited for the boys.”

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.