Oran baseball slips past Kelly 4-3 in back-and-forth game

ORAN, Mo. -- After four innings of back-and-forth baseball, Oran finally stopped the see-saw in the top of the fifth, throwing out a runner at the plate to end the inning and hanging on to defeat Kelly 4-3 on Tuesday at Oran High School.

With two on and two out in the fifth, the Hawks got a single up the middle from Peyton Eftink. Mitchell Proctor charged home, trying to score from second base, but a throw from center fielder Layne Johnson nicked Proctor at the plate for the third out, preserving a one-run edge for the home side.

"They made one big play at the plate and we didn't," Kelly coach Justin McAlister said. "They had the opportunity to throw a runner out at the plate, and whether he was in there or not, it was a bang-bang play and they made the play. We had the opportunity to do the same thing [in the third inning] and we air-mailed the catcher instead of putting it in his chest. That's the game of baseball. You've got to do the little things to beat teams like this."

Kelly (9-11) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a leadoff single by Ty Householder, a couple of wild pitches and a base hit by Kyle Fitzgerald.

Two innings later, Oran (11-8) responded, with Drew Reischman doubling in Austin Eftink from first base as the throw home sailed high. Reischman later scored on a one-out error to give the Eagles a 2-1 advantage.

The pendulum continued swinging when Kelly jumped back on top in the top of the fourth thanks to three consecutive singles to open the inning, with a base hit from Jeremiah Bain scoring Proctor. Then, with the bases loaded and two outs, Levi Alsup walked on four pitches to put the visitors ahead again, 3-2.

Oran bounced back in the bottom half of the inning. A two-out bunt single by Preston Hahn loaded the bases for Clay Sauceda, who bounced the ball through the middle of the infield to plate a pair and put his team up for good, 4-3.

"There were a lot of good things and also some bad," Oran coach Joe Bickings said. "We left too many runners on for my liking. We had a situation with the bases loaded and nobody out and we couldn't get a run in. And in a one-run game, extra runs mean a whole lot. ... But we battled, and we do it every time."

Reischman led the Eagles, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one driven in and also getting the win on the mound, where he scattered eight hits and gave up three runs, with five strikeouts and three walks.

After the fifth inning ended with the play at the plate to let Reischman escape unscathed, Johnson finished off the game with two no-hit innings for the save, striking out four and walking one.

"Drew, when he's on, he's on, and he just has to trust his stuff," Bickings said. "I explained that to him after the game. Sometimes he'll think he doesn't have it, and in reality he's a good enough pitcher to do it. He's just got to believe in himself.

"Layne comes in there and gets the save -- knocks it down and gets six outs. He had four or five strikeouts, and in situations like those, you don't need to let runners on base. He was able to use his breaking ball pretty well and get the strikeouts."

Jonathan Tyler took the loss on the mound for Kelly, giving up four runs on 10 hits with four Ks and two walks over 4 2/3 innings. Ty Householder threw 1 1/3 perfect innings in relief.

Tyler confounded Oran's bats early, but the second time through the lineup saw the hosts find more success in the third and fourth innings.

"Credit to their pitcher, Jonathan Tyler. He mixed it up pretty well, throwing curveballs and fastballs and throwing backwards sometimes," Bickings said. "Sometimes you just need to tip your hat to the pitcher.

"I wish our hitters could adjust on the fly a little bit better. I always tell them, 'If you're the first batter and you see something, go out there and tell your teammates what's going on.' At the same time, he was able to mix it up and keep us off balance. But the second time through we were able to score four runs in two innings and we still hit the ball hard, we just could never get the big hit. But we hit it, and hopefully we can continue to hit it."

Eftink was 3-for-3 with a run scored for Oran.

Proctor and Wyatt Ledure were each 2-for-4 with a run scored for Kelly.

Both teams stranded 10 runners, but the Hawks struck out nine times, including four times with runners in scoring position and four times in the final two innings.

"I felt like we struck out in some big spots today," McAlister said. "... In high school baseball if you put it in play, you give yourself a chance. That's kind of us right now -- we're kind of Jekyll and Hyde. When we're good, we're good, but unfortunately today we didn't come through in some big spots."

The loss was the third in a row for Kelly, but that doesn't discourage McAlister, who feels good about the way his team is playing.

"We've taken huge strides," the coach said. "That's why I keep telling these guys we're on a three-game skid right now, but we're probably playing the best baseball of the year right now, and we won eight out of 10 games before that. I feel like, in these three losses, we're playing the best baseball of the year, and that's encouraging. You know how baseball is -- if you can stay positive and keep playing the right way, I believe eventually it breaks open for you. I'm hoping that's district time."

The Oran coaching staff believes Tuesday's game can help it come the district playoffs as well.

"It's huge for our kids to get in a game like that because when it comes district time, one-run games like that are very, very hard to win. We played in two of them last year," Bickings said. "Just being able to play this type of baseball late in the year and being able to get used to it so they're relaxed more in the postseason, instead of being tight and not wanting the ball hit to them."

Kelly 100 200 0 -- 3 8 2

Oran 002 200 x -- 4 10 1

WP -- Drew Reischman. LP -- Jonathan Tyler. Sv -- Layne Johnson. 2B -- Reischman (O), Tanner McVay (O). Multiple hits -- Kelly: Mitchell Proctor 2-4, Wyatt Ledure 2-4; Oran: Reischman 3-4, Austin Eftink 3-3.