ELDON — The rematch between two teams at or near the top of the Southeast Iowa SuperConference South Division didn’t turn into the game that everyone expected Monday.

Van Buren scored five early runs and went on to defeat Cardinal 11-1 Monday night in Eldon. The first meeting between these squads was a 3-1 Warrior victory.

Each coach commented about the lop-sided game.

“This was really disappointing. We were on a roll last week and tonight we just didn’t show up to play a big game,” said Cardinal head coach Rick Ratchford.

”We’re just really hitting the ball much better than we did early in the summer,” said Van Buren coach Chad Smith.

The 14-5 Warriors banged out four of their 13 hits in the top of the first. With one out, winning pitcher Brett Scott singled. Jory Heckenberg doubled him in and came around to score one out later on a single by Michael Boyd.

Van Buren added three runs in the second on two hits and a Cardinal error. Scott had an RBI double to knock Comet starting pitcher Jeran Courtney out of the game. The following hitter, Heckenberg, came to the plate with two runners in scoring position. He added RBI number two on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt.

Heckenberg, the Warrior’s No. 3 hitter, talked about the play.

”I’ve been hitting pretty good this summer but the suicide didn’t surprise me a bit,” he said.

Tanner Thorne, who led the Comets with two hits, led off the Cardinal second with a single. After Seth Moore singled, a Ryan Giltner ground out plated pinch runner Raymond Booth.

The Warriors scored runs six and seven in the fourth. A Heckenberg single plated a run and a good throw by Comet centerfielder, Devin Yeager, cut down a potential run by throwing out Scott at the plate. Heckenberg scored later as the Comets misplayed a rundown.

Van Buren added two runs in the sixth on RBI singles by Tel Smith and Bryce Phillips.

Giltner, who had 10 strikeouts in just over four innings of relief for the Comets, was relieved by Conner Schlegel in the seventh. The big blow in the two-run Warrior seventh was an RBI double by Scott, who added a complete-game pitching performance to his three hits by retiring the Comets in the bottom of the seventh.

“I’ve had four or five complete games this summer, so I knew I could go seven if I had to,” said Scott.

Smith talked about Scott and the rest of his division-leading (11-2) Warriors.