Clearwater's Kyle Randolph is tagged out at home by Bourbon's Alex Bailey as Kendall Fay looks on Monday afternoon in a MSHSAA Sectional game in Bourbon. (Alex Abate/DAR)

BOURBON -- Clearwater wasted no time making itself heard on Monday afternoon.

The Tigers scored four runs in the top of the first inning and went on to beat Bourbon, 8-3 in a MSHSAA Class 2 Sectional in Bourbon.

Clearwater's Jordan Devenport (2) gets underneath a fly ball as Brandon Smith gets out of the way just in time Monday afternoon in a MSHSAA Sectional game against host Bourbon. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

Clearwater will now face Scott City on Wednesday afternoon for a shot to go to the semifinals.

Logan Morris pitched six innings and got the win for the Tigers who one year ago, reached the Sectionals and lost to West County.

"This is huge," Clearwater's Jake Hime said. "All year, this is what you work for and right now you are just winning one at a time and you are loving winning."

With one out in the first inning, Morris singled to right field and Kendall Fay singled to center. With two down, Dan Smith singled to center which scored courtesy runner Ronnie Ray and Fay to make it 2-0. Brandon Smith followed with a home run over the left field fence to make it 4-0.

"It was an 0-2 curveball," Brandon Smith said. "I just trying to put it in play and keep it going on 0-2."

The quick start helped to settle the freshman Morris in on the Hill, Clearwater coach Justin Dobbins said.

"We hadn't been hitting the ball well and we wanted to come out and hit it early," he said. "We jumped on them pretty good and the bats got rolling pretty good and that is always good for Logan (Morris). He come in and throws is tail off."

Both teams added a run each in the second inning before the Tigers broke open the gates in the fifth. Morris started the inning with a single to right field and Fay singled to bring up Hime who was walked to load the bases. With one out, Ray scored on a wild pitch and Brandon Smith hit a double to left field that allowed Fay and Hime to score which put the Tigers ahead 8-1.

"He got behind in the count and wasn't looking real good at the plate but then he got the fastball," Dobbins said. "He used his hands and got the barrel out and hit another big double there."

Bourbon added one run in the fifth and seventh innings, but could do no more damage.

Morris gave up two runs over six innings but struck out 10.

"Here lately, Logan has just been dealing," Hime said. "He has been helping us out and winning ballgames."

He came up pitches when he needed to as Bourbon stranded 13 runners over the course of the contest.

"His curveball was really good today and they struggled with it," Dobbins said. "He was able to throw that big curveball. Every time he needed a big one, it seemed like he got it."

The ability to sustain the big early lead started with Morris on the hill, Dobbins said.

"They had chances and Logan Morris shut them down when they had chances," Dobbins said. "If they get a couple hits with those bases loaded and it is a different game. Every time they made a threat at us, he shut them down and made a big strikeout."

The fast start for the Tigers was a polar opposite to how they started their game against Twin Rivers in the Class 2 District 3 title game. They managed to score three runs in the final frame of that game to push it to extra innings.

"No secret, we didn't play very good early in that district championship game," Dobbins said. "We hadn't played real good early in the last three or four games, even the ones we won. We wanted to really come out today and get things rolling."

Hime stressed the importance of focus for the game against Scott City.

"You just want to win every inning and win every pitch," he said. "You just have to take it as little games, little games within a game."