Kelly's Levi Felter (21) is greeted by teammates after hitting a home run in the fourth inning. Felter's home run followed a grand slam home run by Dustin Crowden. (Chris Pobst/Standard Democrat)

NEW MADRID -- The Kelly Hawks lofted four home runs in Thursday's 11-7 contest against the New Madrid County Central Eagles to advance in the SEMO Conference Tournament setting a date with the No. 1 seed Dexter Bearcats today in Dexter.

For the No. 9 seeded Hawks it was a must-win play-in game to receive a berth in the eight-team field.

Kelly's Josh DeBrock delivers a pitch in the first inning Thursday afternoon. (Chris Pobst/Standard Democrat) [Click to enlarge]

Josh DeBrock slung 119 pitches at Eagles hitters on Thursday, picking up the win after throwing six innings. DeBrock gave up four earned runs on nine hits while walking two and hitting two.

Ethan Lee picked up the save, giving up one hit to the four batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh.

Kelly's defense struggled slightly in the contest, but the offense made up the difference at the plate as they pounded out four home runs on the day.

NMCC jumped out early as Kyle Marshall led things off with a line drive single into left field. Marshall then scored on a double into the right field gap by Dylan Harris. Harris and Josh St. Mary, who got on base via catcher's interference, both scored in the bottom of the first to take the 3-0 lead.

In the second inning, Bryce Faulkner put the Hawks on the board with a towering home run into left center field, but a two-out rally and two costly errors gave the Eagles two more runs in the third, making the score 5-1.

Faulkner was back at the plate to begin the fourth inning, reaching base this time on an error by the shortstop. Two outs later and the Kelly offense busted the game wide-open.

Zach Howard started the rally with a single into right center field. A single from DeBrock and another error on the shortstop on a sharply hit ball by Dustin LeGrand loaded the bases for Dustin Crowden.

Crowden battled throughout the at-bat until he got a pitch right down the middle of the plate skying a home run over the left field fence.

Levi Felter then hammered the first pitch he saw for a solo home run and Lee capped it off with another solo shot as the Hawks went back-to-back-to-back in the inning, all with two outs.

NMCC plated two runs in the bottom half of the inning on a single by starting pitcher Sean Thomason, but Kelly added three more over the next three innings and held on for the victory.

"I really don't think we played exceptionally well today," said Kelly head coach Nate Wills after the victory. "I think we got timely hits. We got a couple of lucky ones ' playing on a short field. It could've gone the other way if the wind wasn t blowing out, but anytime you get a win in the SEMO Conference, you're doing well."

Aside from the four home runs, several Hawks recorded multiple hits on the day. Felter finished the day 2-for-3 at the plate with a single, a home run, a run scored and an RBI and Faulkner was 2-for-3 with a single, a home run, three runs scored and an RBI. Entering in the fourth inning was Ryan Essner, who went 2-for-2 at the plate with two singles, two stolen bases and two runs scored.

"They've got a lot of guys they can throw at you pitching wise," said Wills of his opponent. "We were just fortunate that we got some hits when we needed them with runners in scoring position. In a lot of parks, those home runs may have been doubles, but the sun was shining on us today."

Wills says that he likes his chances against the Bearcats tomorrow after the display of hitting that his team provided in Thursday's win.

Taking the loss on the hill for the Eagles was Thomason, who gave up just one earned run of the eight that crossed the plate while he was in command. Thomason allowed seven hits, hit one batter and struck out five in the loss.

"I think without the wind-aided home runs we would've stood a real good chance of winning this ballgame," said NMCC head coach John Jones. "We wouldn't have gotten down on ourselves and our pitcher would've still had his confidence about him. I think we would've come out and won this ballgame had it not been for that."

At the plate for the Eagles, Marshall went 2-for-5 with two singles and a run scored, Harris went 2-for-4 with a single, a double, an RBI and two runs scored and Thomason went 2-for-4 with two singles and three RBI.

NMCC now falls to the losers bracket in the tournament and will face the loser of the Cape Central vs. Sikeston game, which will take place today at Cape Central.

Kelly will face Dexter on the road today at 4 p.m.