Graviett lifts Oran into district final

ORAN, Mo. -- Oran took the easy path while Bell City had a much more difficult time, but those top seeds both posted semifinal victories Wednesday in the Class 1A, District 2 baseball tournament.

No. 1 Oran rolled past No. 4 Valle 15-4 and No. 2 Bell City nipped No. 3 St. Vincent, the defending 1A state runner-up, 1-0. Oran and Bell City will square off at 4:30 p.m. today for the championship.

Oran (16-4) received a monster performance from Trey Graviett, who had two home runs -- a grand slam and a three-run shot -- among his three hits. Graviett (6-3) was also the winning pitcher, allowing four hits and three earned runs in six innings.

The Eagles banged out 15 hits. Garrett Roslen matched Graviett in going 3-for-5 while Joey Bickings and Tyler Cookson added two hits each.

Valle (9-7) got a homer from losing pitcher Phillip Stoll.

Bell City (11-4) had just one hit, but that was enough to score a first-inning run and eliminate two-time defending district champion St. Vincent (4-14).

The bottom of the first began innocently enough as the first two Cubs were retired. But Ben Duncan walked, stole second and scored on Ty Brown's double. The Cubs had just two baserunners -- on a walk and an error -- the rest of the way.

Duncan (4-1) gave up four hits in 6 1/3 innings, with 11 strikeouts. Jason Rampley recorded the final two outs for a save.

Alex Armbruster, despite hurling the one-hitter, took the loss. He struck out 10.

Class 1A, District 3

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Fourth-seeded Viburnum scored in every inning as it ousted top-seeded Leopold 11-1 in six innings to reach the championship game.

Viburnum will face second-seeded Advance at 4 p.m. Friday. Advance defeated third-seeded Bunker 7-0 in the other semifinal.

Viburnum senior Kyle Turnbough picked up his second victory of district play, limiting Leopold (11-6) to two hits in going the distance. He struck out seven and walked one. Turnbough pitched four innings in Tuesday's first-round win over South Iron.

A.J. Seiler (3-3) pitched the first four innings for Leopold before giving way to Josh Van de Ven. Seiler had a triple, the highlight of the Wildcat offense.

Advance (5-6) received two-hit pitching from Aaron Cantrell (3-3), who struck out nine and walked one.

The Hornets, the defending district champions, had just five hits, but they took advantage of 12 walks and also stole 12 bases, five by Jason Bahr and four by Eric O'Hare.

"It feels good to be in the finals again," Advance coach Jim Below said.