FINAL COMEBACK ELUDES EAGLES

COLUMBIA -- Trailing the Halfway Cardinals by seven runs during Friday morning's Class 1A baseball championship game at chilly Simmons Field, the Oran Eagles found themselves in a familiar situation.

Only this time, the seven-run lead held up.

After battling back from a 7-0 deficit in Wednesday's 9-7 semifinal win over New Bloomfield, the Eagles comeback magic expired in a 9-3 championship loss.

"All you can say is the better team won," said Oran coach Mitch Wood. "We got some costly mistakes from the other team (Wednesday) to help us get here, so you get some breaks and you give some breaks. We gave some breaks today."

Three Oran errors led to five unearned runs as the Eagles, ranked third in a 1A coaches poll prior to the playoffs, ended their most successful season in school history at 23-4. Halfway, the top-ranked team since the start of the season, will remain No. 1 with a 23-2 mark. The baseball title is Halfway's first ever.

Scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. after showers postponed all of Thursday's action, the contest got started a half-hour late amid overcast skies and gusty 50-degree temperatures. All of Friday's baseball action was played under the lights of Simmons Field.

Despite stealing a state-record total of 11 bases in their first-ever championship game, the Eagles were unable to get the timely hits with runners in scoring position they had grown accustomed to during their playoff run. Both teams stranded 10 runners in the contest.

"We didn't get any key hits," Wood said. "We've been fortunate in the last four or five ballgames to have the bottom of the order step up and do the job for us, but you can't expect that every game. Finally our top of the order had a chance to shine a little bit, but they didn't get the job done today."

Halfway outhit Oran 9-5 and took advantage of a costly error in the top of the first inning to score three unearned runs off starter Justin McAlister. For the second game in a row with McAlister on the mound, the Eagles found themselves in an early hole.

McAlister would have gotten out of the inning without incident, but with two outs sure-handed center fielder Jeremy Pobst misplayed a flyball and then dropped it to plate Halfway's first run. Brandon Doke followed the error with a two-run double, the Cardinals' first hit of the contest, to make the score 3-0.

The Eagles did rally in the third inning, stringing together three hits to score two runs and cut the lead to 3-2. McAlister opened the inning with a single, stole second and scored on a one-out single to left field by Dustin Dannenmueller. Billy Loper chased Dannenmueller home with a single to right field and the Eagles were right back in the game. Adam Friga and Dustin Glastetter had Oran's only other hits.

"I wasn't concerned when we were three runs down," Wood said. "We came back, but we just kept making mistakes."

Halfway answered Oran's rally in the fourth inning with three hits and four runs to knock out McAlister and put the Cardinals back in command. A big blow was a bases-loaded smash off Oran reliever Glastetter that went through the legs of second baseman Justin Wierman and was ruled a hit. Two runs scored on the play, increasing the lead to 5-2.

A Glastetter wild pitch plated the sixth run and Doke followed with a perfect squeeze bunt to score the final run of the frame with Halfway ahead 7-2. Two more unearned runs in the fifth inning put Halfway up by seven runs for the second day in a row.

Considering Oran's recent comeback history, plus the Cardinals nearly blew a 7-0 lead in Wednesday's 7-6 semifinal win over Macks Creek, first-year Halfway coach Rick Hammons was hardly content with the big lead.

"There's no lead that's comfortable here at state," Hammons said with a grin. "When you play against a team as explosive as Oran, seven runs is not a comfortable cushion."

It was this time.

Halfway starter Mark Timmerman (9-1) stranded two Oran runners in the fifth inning and the bases loaded in the sixth to hold on for the complete-game victory. He fanned 10 and walked seven. The Eagles did touch Timmerman for an unearned run in the seventh inning when Loper walked, stole two bases and scored on a wild throw to third base by the catcher.

McAlister, who entered the game with an 8-0 pitching record, suffered his first loss of the season. He hurled three innings, walking five and striking out two. Only two of the five runs charged to McAlister were earned.

Aaron Evans, Halfway's top hitter with a .525 average, had three hits and scored three runs. Jeremy McCarthy added two hits and four RBIs.