Advance baseball team rides Mayo's complete game into district final

~ Advance reached the Class 1 District 2 final behind the pitching of Dawson Mayo

ORAN, Mo. -- The Oak Ridge baseball team had the batter it wanted at the plate and Advance had the pitcher it wanted on the mound with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Advance, with freshman ace Dawson Mayo on the mound, was ahead by two with Oak Ridge's clean-up hitter Andrew Puchbauer at the plate.

"I threw, I think, curveball then the rest were straight fastballs because I was just trying to keep it outside because I pitched him high that first inning and he about took me yard," Mayo said, recalling Puchbauer's first-inning double that reached the left-center field fence. "I was thinking, 'Keep it outside. Make him hit it out the ground or hit it low. If he hits it through, it happens."

Mayo succeeded, getting Puchbauer to hit a ball sharply to his shortstop, who threw to second just in time for a force out to seal the Hornets' 3-1 win in a Class 1 District 2 semifinal.

"We were looking there at the last inning coming up nine, one, two just trying to give ourselves a chance with a couple guys on and three, four coming up," Oak Ridge coach Bo Akers said. "They have the ability to drive the ball in the gap, and they have a lot of RBIs for us this year. It just didn't work out in our favor today, but it wasn't bad at-bats at the end there that got us."

What got the Blue Jays more than anything was an unfortunate error and an unfortunate time.

Advance got back-to-back one-out singles in the sixth inning. Kelby Brown replaced starter Jacob LeGrand, who struck out 11 batters in 5 1/3 innings of work.

"Jake was at 90 pitches and the momentum had started to sway," Akers said. "They had got a couple hits off him in a row, and so I thought it was time to just give them a different look. Kelby's been outstanding this year. They're both very good options at that point, and so we thought it was the best option to go with a different look, and we got the play that we needed. We just didn't happen to make the play today."

Brown struck out Creighton Miles for the second out of the inning and induced a popup to shallow left field that should have ended the half inning with the score still tied 1-1. But the catch wasn't made and the two decisive runs scored.

"Things happen in big games," Akers said. "I'll tell you, that kid's the best teammate we've got. He's about the best kid you can ask for in a player. The wind just happen to carry that ball, and he didn't account for it and it ended up getting over his head. That's part of the game."

Oak Ridge (9-6) threatened in each of its final two at-bats. The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the sixth on two walks and an error, but Mayo got a flyout and strikeout to end the inning.

"I was nervous, but I thought I could do it," Mayo said. "I walked the people, so it was my fault. My defense did their job. I was getting nervous, but I knew I could fight back and get it. I was wanting to stay low in their order because I knew their three and four hitters had been stroking the ball pretty good. That didn't work out too well, so I guess I just had to face them and I got [away] with it."

Mayo gave up just five hits on the day. Puchbauer drove home the only Oak Ridge run with his double in the first.

"Dawson is a competitor. There may be one person on our team that's more competitive than Dawson and you know who that is," said Advance coach Chris Asmus, making an obvious reference to senior leader Lane Below. "This may be not be his game, but he's still going to compete for me. Every time I ask him to step foot on the mound, even if something's bothering him, he's going to do his best. He's going to give you everything he's got, and that's what he did today."

Advance (13-13) tied the game at 1 with a run in the fifth. CJ Seger singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a fielder's choice by Mayo.

The Hornets will face Oran at 4 p.m. today for the district title.

"I hope we just come out and compete," said Asmus, an Oran graduate who played with Eagles' coach Kody Campbell for three years in high school. "I've told them all year, 'Guys if we can get there, I think we can win it.'"

Advance 000 120 0 -- 3 9 1

Oak Ridge 100 000 0 -- 1 5 3

WP -- Dawson Mayo. LP -- Jake LeGrand. 2B -- Andrew Puchbauer (OR), Brandon Sokolowski (A) 2. Multiple hits -- Advance: Preston Wuebker 2-2, Brandon Sokolowski 3-4.