Oran baseball team defeats Naylor to reach Class 1 final four

ORAN, Mo. -- There's no kissing in baseball.

But there it was all the same.

One Oran player after another planted a kiss on the top of the head of sophomore Alex Heuring as he sat in the Eagles' dugout with his catcher's equipment on awaiting the bottom of the seventh inning of Friday's Class 1 state quarterfinal game.

Oran coach Mitch Wood high fives Zac Chasteen as he rounds third base after hitting a home run during the first inning of a Class 1 Quarterfinal game against Naylor on Friday, May 27, 2011, in Oran, Mo. Oran won 14-13. (Kristin Eberts)

One came from his senior brother Tyler. Another came from senior pitcher Zac Chasteen. Senior right fielder Nolan Urhahn also planted one on the brown tousled mop of the wide-grinning sophomore.

"I had to kiss that big, huge jughead of his," Urhahn said.

Moments earlier Alex Heuring had fired a shot heard around Scott County. The sub-.200 hitter made his first high school home run a game-winning grand slam that sent Oran to its 10th Class 1 final four.

Oran players cheer as Alex Heuring (24) approaches home plate after hitting a home run that put Oran up by one run during the top of the seventh inning of a Class 1 Quarterfinal game against Naylor on Friday, May 27, 2011, in Oran, Mo. Oran won 14-13. (Kristin Eberts)

Heuring's one-out blast in the top of the seventh off Naylor senior Cory Kovach lifted Oran to a 14-13 victory in a game that featured numerous hairpin turns and a thick plot.

Had Heuring ever been smooched by teammates on a baseball field?

"I have not, and hopefully it's the last time because it was kind of awkward. I'm not going to lie," Alex Heuring said with a smile. "It was a little gross, but what can you do in a situation like that?"

Oran will take a 23-2 record to Springfield, Mo., where the Eagles will face Liberal (19-4) in the state semifinals Wednesday.

"It's just been a silly season all year round with rain, games and everything," Oran coach Mitch Wood said. "All I can say is we're going to Springfield."

Alex Heuring may be packing a little spending money for the trip.

"I told him I'd give him $100 if he hit it," Tyler Heuring said. "I guess I owe him a hundred bucks now."

"I did win $100, and he's gonna pay up. He will pay up," Alex said about his older brother.

Alex Heuring, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound catcher, struck out in his two previous at-bats after walking his first two times.

"I was just praying to God that the sun was going to come through for me," Alex said. "I had been getting pitches to hit all day and I hadn't done anything. I came up in a big spot and made them pay. I was just looking to get a base hit."

"He's struggled all year long, but he came through for us when we really needed it," Tyler Heuring said. "It was awesome."

"He's only hitting about a buck fifty, so that was a big hit for him," Wood said. "He's hitting about a buck fifty-five now."

Tyler Heuring completed the second half of the Bash Brothers, matching his brother's four RBIs on two home runs. He added a double and finished 4 for 5, accounting for nearly half of Oran's nine hits.

"He's an exceptional player," Wood said about the senior. "I'd like to have [Tyler] back next year, but that's not going to happen."

A dramatic finish seemed improbable after the Eagles, who were the visiting team on their own field, scored five runs before Naylor could obtain the game's first out. Tyler Heuring launched a three-run blast and Chasteen followed with a two-run shot off Kovach, who didn't look like a guy who'd still be on the mound in the seventh.

"We came out hitting the ball good," Tyler Heuring said. "The pitching was a little rusty, but we wanted this game. We were going to win this game. We fought hard and it all worked out."

Oran added a run in the third for a 6-0 lead, but Naylor took advantage of pitching wildness in the bottom of the frame, coupling five hits and five walks in a nine-run inning.

"I don't think in my career we've ever given up nine runs in an inning," Wood said.

Wood said he was baffled by his pitchers' wildness.

"We've give up four or five runs in an inning because of that, but nine -- that's a lot of runs," Wood said with a laugh. "I think I could slow-pitch to teams around here and not give up nine runs. I really do, but that's part of it."

Three Oran pitchers -- starter Dalton Elfrink, Kody Moore and Chasteen -- combined for nine walks and five hit batsmen in the game.

Ten consecutive Naylor players reached base safely after the leadoff batter was retired in the third inning. Elfrink left with the bases loaded and returned to face three more batters after two batters reached against Moore. Chasteen ultimately came on and surrendered two hits before retiring the final two batters.

"I think everyone was just kind of down because we thought we had them early in the game," Chasteen said. "I think that helped us learn to stay up and keep playing."

Oran tied the game at 9-9 in the fourth, but the Eagles would not see the lead again until Alex Heuring's blast.

The loss ended Naylor's season at 16-5 and left the program teasingly short of its first final four appearance in school history.

"The hardest thing is you feel for the seniors," Naylor coach Jeff Null said. "They left it all out there on the field. I know some of them are taking it hard. That's the part that bothers you the most."

Weaved into the plot was a three-inning limit on Naylor's ace Dalton Woodard, a hard-throwing junior left-hander who had allowed just one hit in a complete-game sectional outing Tuesday against Oak Ridge. Missouri high school regulations only allow a player to pitch 10 innings in a three-day period, so Woodard only was available for three innings.

The general consensus was that Woodard would pitch the final three innings, but he entered in Oran's three-run fourth inning. Null turned to his ace after first trying sophomore Cody Collins, who walked the only two batters he faced.

Tyler Heuring opened the Oran fourth with his second home run off Kovach, who then walked Urhahn and hit Chasteen. Collins then walked Blake Carlyle and Seth Ressel, forcing in Urhahn to cut Oran's deficit to 9-8.

Collins struck out Alex Heuring on a 3-2 pitch, but Null had seen enough when Collins threw balls on his first two pitches to No. 9 hitter Dylan Dannenmueller.

With one out in the fourth, the bases loaded and his team clinging to a one-run lead, Null called for Woodard.

"I just felt that was a key point of the game." Null said. "We needed to come out of that and keep our team in the game mentally. It worked out at that point. I knew the seventh was going to be tough."

Woodard missed the zone on his first two pitches, forcing in Chasteen as Oran tied the game 9-9.

However, Woodard looked like an ace as he struck out leadoff man Moore and Elfrink to end the threat. While Woodard obtained two outs, a full inning was credited to his innings count by Missouri rules.

Naylor seized the momentum and scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of three hits, two hit batters, one walk and an error for a 13-9 lead.

Woodard then pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth, allowing one hit and striking out six in 2 2/3 innings.

"I just told them the Woodard kid can't pitch the next inning," Wood said. "We're not playing very good defense and we're not pitching very well, so we have to outscore them. And that's what we tried to do all year."

Kovach (4-1), who was unbeaten this season, returned to the mound for the seventh with a 13-9 lead.

"Their guy [Woodard] was a good pitcher," Alex Heuring said. "Luckily he was low on innings and the starter came back in and we hit him pretty good."

Tyler Heuring set the tone for the inning when he belted a 3-2 pitch into the left-center field gap for a double.

"We knew what we had to get done," Tyler Heuring said. "Losing wasn't an option for us."

He made a dash for third on a groundout by Urhahn and scored when Woodard, now at first, threw wildly.

Kovach then issued a one-out walk to Chasteen, allowed a single to Carlyle and walked Ressel on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.

Alex Heuring then drilled a 1-0 fastball over the fence in left field to give Oran the lead.

"The second one I knew I was going to get a pitch to hit in a tight game like that," Alex Heuring said. "Luckily it was over the plate."

Chasteen was on third base and got a good look.

"I knew it was gone," Chasteen said. "I was happy for him because we've been giving him crap all year about not hitting the ball good and he comes up big."

Oran needed Chasteen to throw a third straight scoreless inning to secure the win.

A one-out error and a wild pitch put Naylor's Aaron Graham at second base as the potential tying run. Graham moved to third on a groundout, and Montana Lutes drew a two-out walk. But Kaleb Bridges, Naylor's No. 9 batter, grounded an 0-1 pitch to second base, and a flip to shortstop Moore for a force out at second ended the game.

Chasteen improved to 8-0 with 4 2/3 innings of relief. He allowed six hits, struck out five, walked two and hit three batters.

"I've never been in a game like this," Chasteen said. "Season's on the line, my last high school baseball game, potentially. It feels good."

Oran 501 300 5 -- 14 9 3

Naylor 009 400 0 -- 13 11 0

WP -- Zac Chasteen, 8-0. LP -- Kory Kovach, 4-1. HR -- Tyler Heuring 2 (O), Chasteen (O), Alex Heuring (0). 2B -- T. Heuring (O), Dalton Woodard (N). Multiple hits -- Oran: T. Heuring 4-5; Naylor: Marcus Rigdon 2-4, Ethan Woolard 2-3, Cody Collins 2-4. Records -- Oran 23-2, Naylor 16-5.