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Oran regains district
ORAN -- The Oran Eagles baseball team claimed their fourth district championship in the last five years with an 8-3 victory against Advance on Thursday in the Class 1, District 2 title game at Oran High School.
Top-seeded Oran broke open a tie game in the bottom of the third inning, connecting on back-to-back home runs to pull away for a surprisingly comfortable victory.
Advance, which defeated Oran in last year's championship game and also owned a victory against the Eagles this season, finishes its season at 12-4.
Oran advances to the Class 1 sectional round where they will host Cooter on Wednesday. Game time has not been set.
For Oran coach Mitch Wood, avenging last year's loss to Advance was sweet redemption.
"There's no doubt -- we've kind of spoiled some people around this area as far as our fans," said Wood. "We lost one last year after going three years in a row. It kind of gets the monkey off our back.
"It's a big 'W' for us. No. 1, we just came out and played good baseball. The big difference right now isn't who we're playing, but that we're playing well. We've played well the last two or three weeks. We went down to Kennett and beat them 15-12. We're just finding ways to win."
The second-seeded Hornets never could solve Oran lefty Chase Seyer, who pitched the full seven innings while scattering nine hits and three runs. He struck out four and walked two.
"We just didn't get it done and they did get it done," said Advance coach Bob Moses. "Chase pitched a heck of a ballgame. Hey, they are a really, really fine ball team. They haven't won 10 or 11 district championships because they are not a good ball team. They know how to play. My hat's off to them and we wish them the best of luck. If we can't do it, we hope it's them."
Said Wood: "Right now he's not overpowering, but he's relying a lot on his defense. You can't beat our pitching and defense right now. It's pretty good."
Advance got on the board in the top of the second on Jeremy Limbaugh's solo home run to centerfield.
Oran (23-4) tied it on Paul Bucher's RBI-single and grabbed the lead on Chris Asmus' fielder's choice-RBI.
Advance tied it at 2-2 in the top of the third on an RBI-single by Daryl Wade to bring in Rusty Hendricks.
Oran broke the game open in the bottom half of the inning.
Austin Dumey's RBI-single gave Oran a 3-2 lead.
Then Seyer launched a two-run homer over the right field fence to extend the lead to 5-2.
One batter later, Tyler Beardslee hit a tall flyball that continued to carry out to left centerfield, eventually clearing the fence for a solo homer to push the lead to 6-2.
"They're big hits, but they've done it all year," said Wood. "The same kids have hit some big home runs and gotten some big hits this year. We've got different kids stepping up every game."
Beardslee's home run chased Limbaugh from the hill as Trenton Moses came in for relief.
Limbaugh lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing six runs off six hits with one walk and no strikeouts.
"He just made some bad pitches and they hit the ball," said coach Moses. "I don't even know if they were bad pitches. It was just good hitting. He threw the ball pretty well, but he did fall behind a little bit.
"Jeremy's pitched for three years for me and he's been a monster. I can't think of anybody I'd rather have out there. He's our top gun and that's who I wanted out there."
Oran tacked on another run in the fifth on Alex Chasteen's RBI-single to bring in Joey Williams to extend the lead to 7-2.
Advance's Kevin Adkins doubled home David VanGennip in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-3. The Hornets eventually had the tying run on deck, but Seyer got Cory Roper to flyout to end the threat.
Oran scored one more insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as Kody Campbell came home on Seyer's groundout.
The Eagles collected 10 hits led by Seyer's 2-4 day with three RBIs and Beardslee's 2-4 day with two runs.
Williams reached base four times and scored two runs. Dumey went 2-4 with a double.
Advance's VanGennip and Adkins each had two hits.
The Hornets' baseball season got off to a late start after the basketball team reached the Class 2 semifinals.
"We couldn't ever get any momentum going," said Moses. "We were constantly out of rhythm the entire time. It was a frustrating season. Last year we played 22 or 23 ballgames. It's tough to get into a groove that way."
The district championship is the 15th baseball title in Oran's school history.