Hancock head coach Kurt Donaldson hadn’t started Korey Besse on the mound the entire tournament, saving him for the later innings.

It turned out that maybe Donaldson should have started him more often.

Besse pitched a complete game, three-hit shutout and Bryce Adkins drove in the only runs of the game with a three-run home run as the Hancock 10-11 All-Stars downed Fort Myers American 3-0 Wednes-day night at a dreary Bucking-ham Park.

The victory set the stage for the District 9 championship starting tonight against South Fort Myers. The location was not determined at press time.

Hancock needs to beat South twice to win the championship.

Besse struck out nine and walked only one. He also got great defense from centerfielder Michael Barnes, who gunned down a runner trying to stretch a hit into a double, and shortstop Garrett Morgan among others.

“I just felt this was a tough team, so I had to come at them,” Besse said. “When they started hitting the ball, I wasn’t worried because I knew we had players who could eat them up.”

Besse outdueled Fort Myers starter Bryce Glasgow, who also went the distance, allowing three runs, four hits, three walks and four strikeouts.

But in the third inning, Glasgow made his first and costliest mistake of the night.

With one out, Besse singled and Morgan walked. Adkins got a high pitch and knocked it over the fence in left-center for the game’s only runs.

“It was waist high. I always have to jump on those,” Adkins said.

Fort Myers American’s only real threat came in the fifth. With one out, Brett Kyle reached on an error and Alex Cohen walked to bring the tying run to the plate, but Besse struck out Glasgow to end the inning.

Before that, Besse had retired eight straight batters, five by strikeout.

Christian Drew reached on a single in the sixth, but Mark Murray grounded to Morgan to end the game just as Besse reached the 85-pitch limit.

“I was a little scared as I reached the limit, but I felt good. I just wanted to take it to them and finish,” Besse said.

“He showed what he can do when fresh. Can’t ask for more than that,” Donaldson said.

Drew had two of Fort Myers’ three hits. Kyle had the other hit and reached twice.

Donnie Goodman and Brandon Zielinski had the only other hits for Hancock.

With Fort Myers American out of the way, Hancock players and staff put their thoughts on South Fort Myers.

“We have one of the best defenses in the county. We want to beat South,” Adkins said.

“We got our rematch, now we’ll see what happens,” Donaldson said.

HANCOCK 3,

FORT MYERS AMERICAN 0

FMA 000 000 0 3 1

HAN 003 00x 3 4 1

WP: Besse LP: Glasgow

2B: Goodman (HAN)

Cape American 6, South Fort Myers 1

Also at Buckingham, Cape Coral American’s 9-10 squad overcame a slow start to rally past South Fort Myers 6-1 in the winner’s bracket final.

Cape will next play Friday, when they will face the winner of the tonight’s loser’s bracket final between South and Fort Myers American at Hancock.

South loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning, but Tony Rios held them to just one run.

In the fourth, Cape exploded for six runs. Lamont Johnson and Barron Northrop had two-run singles and Jose Rodriguez added an RBI single.

The game was moved from North Fort Myers to Buckingham because of the weather.