Hornets run down title

Advance preserved its 2-1 victory over Oran with a crazy double play.

The Advance baseball team escaped quite a predicament in a most unusual fashion Thursday in the championship game of the Class 1 District 2 tournament at Chaffee.

But considering how difficult and controversial it was to score runs, maybe it wasn't that unusual after all.

With Oran runners on second and third and one out, Advance turned Paul Bucher's routine grounder to shortstop into a rundown double play on the two lead runners to preserve a 2-1 victory.

Chase Seyer broke from third base for home on the grounder and, after a long run down, tried to make contact with Advance catcher Darrell Wade near third base. Freshman Tyler Beardslee, the courtesy runner for catcher Joey Williams, attempted to retreat to second base but was tagged out by Advance's Trent Moses.

"That was the strangest end of a game I've ever seen," Advance coach Bob Moses said. "I didn't know what was going on. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen."

This game had a few of them, but the end result was a six-hit performance from Jeremy Limbaugh that sent Advance (18-2) into the Class 1 sectional round for the first time since 2002.

The Hornets play Holcomb (14-8) on Wednesday at Holcomb.

Oran (17-8), a state final four qualifier the last three years, will not get to make another bid for its first state championship.

"We made too many mental mistakes, and we didn't deserve to win," Oran coach Mitch Wood said. "You just hate to lose like that. When you play that poorly and still have a chance to win, that makes it hard to take."

Limbaugh, a junior, and Seyer, a sophomore, rolled through scorelessly the first four innings.

Oran cracked the silence in the fifth. Kody Campbell walked and Advance was unable to make a play at second on Williams' bunt. After a fielder's choice retired the lead runner at third base, Ryan Bouge singled to center to bring in Beardslee with the run. But Bucher was thrown out at third base on the play, and Advance escaped any further damage.

The first Advance runner to get past second base was Rusty Hendricks, who circled the bases after Bucher had recorded the inning's final out at first and tossed the ball toward the mound, though Moses argued the ball was tossed to the mound before Bucher stepped on the bag to record the out.

Advance scored two runs that counted in the sixth. With one out, Wade singled and stole second base. Jeremy Limbaugh then grounded to third baseman Trevor Irwin and the throw pulled Bucher off the base. Bucher's return throw to try to get Wade sailed high, allowing a run to score and putting Limbaugh on second base. Wood argued the call at first, and then had another argument when Limbaugh was tagged out trying to take third while the play was stopped. After an intentional walk to Trent Moses, James Masters ripped a single over the right fielder's head that scored Limbaugh.

Seyer was able to get the last two outs on a strikeout and groundball back to him, giving Oran a chance in the seventh.

Seyer opened with a double and went to third when Williams hit a soft single into left field. Courtesy runner Beardslee took second base, setting up the bizarre play that ended the game.

"It was a pitchers duel," Moses said. "I wish the controversial stuff hadn't gotten in there, but I thought it was a good ballgame."

Advance 2, Oran 1

Oran 000 010 0 -- 1 6 2

Advance 000 002 x -- 2 5 0

WP -- Jeremy Limbaugh. LP -- Chase Seyer. 2B -- Rusty Hendricks (A), Chase Seyer (O). Multiple hits -- Hendricks, 2-3. Records -- Advance 18-2, Oran 17-8.