Oran baseball team improves to 12-0 with rout of Saxony Lutheran

ORAN, Mo. -- Saxony Lutheran suffered a death by doubles at the hands of the Oran baseball team Tuesday.

The Eagles belted four first-inning doubles, thanks in part to a stiff wind blowing out to left field, and never allowed the Crusaders to catch their breath. Oran improved to 12-0 with their 12-2 six-inning victory on its home field.

"We came out and were seeing the ball real well and everyone was hitting the ball real good," Oran's Tyler Heuring said. "We just came out ready to play."

The Eagles wasted no time jumping on Saxony Lutheran starter Jon Winkler. Kody Moore led off with a double, and the Eagles grabbed the lead three batters later when Zac Chasteen blasted a ball that one-hopped the wall in right-center field. Blake Carlyle and Seth Ressel also doubled home runs in the opening frame.

"We hit the baseball well the first inning," Oran coach Mitch Wood said. "I wish we could have continued it, but we kind of scattered it around afterward. We hit it well, we just hit it right at them the rest of the game."

Saxony Lutheran left fielder Kris Cook is unable to prevent a home run by Oran's Nolan Urhahn during the fourth inning Tuesday in Oran, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Saxony Lutheran coach Paul Sander blamed Winkler's control for the early deficit.

"Our left-hander, he was up with everything in the first," Sander said about Winkler. "Out here on this field, you can't be up or you're going to get killed. We got popped pretty good in the first two innings."

Oran (12-0) added two runs in the second inning on Chasteen's solo homer and Alex Heuring's single to grab an 8-0 lead.

"It's a great thing to start a game off like that with six runs," Chasteen said. "It helps set the pace for the game and makes it an easy win."

Oran's offense tacked on two more runs in the fourth. Nolan Urhahn deposited a homer over the left-field fence, and a pair of errors plated another run.

But Wood didn't like the approach his hitters took in the middle of the game. The three outs in the bottom of the fifth inning all came on fly balls to the outfield.

"I thought we were overswinging a little bit," Wood said. "Then we were swinging defensively once we did get two strikes. We just took some bad approaches there at the end. We talked about it a little bit already."

Chasteen admitted that trying to hit a homer with the help of the wind is enticing.

"I think we didn't stay aggressive with the bat," he said. "We started swinging for the fences and got under the ball too much."

Oran ended the game early when Alex Heuring threaded a single down the third-base line to score a pair with one out in the sixth, giving the Eagles a 10-run lead and enacting the mercy rule.

"They hit the ball well early and we just couldn't get anything strung together," Sander said. "We had a few hits but we couldn't string anything together. We've been hitting the ball for six or seven games in a row, but it went away today."

The Crusaders (9-2) didn't go quietly. They pushed across a run in the third on a wild pitch and had a golden chance in the fourth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs.

But Moore, Oran's starting pitcher, struck out Shawn Hadler then Winkler reached on a fielder's choice that scored a run for the second out. Moore escaped further damage when he got Gabe Bohnert to ground into a fielder's choice.

"They hit the ball hard," Wood said. "Luckily it was right at us. Kody wasn't on his best game today. He was leaving it up a little bit."

Moore finished with five strikeouts and one walk. He threw 79 pitches.

"Their pitcher, he was probably as sharp as any we've seen so far," Sander said. "He was pretty sharp. He was around the plate most of the time."

Saxony 001 100 -- 2 5 2

Oran 620 202 -- 12 13 1

WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Jon Winkler. HR -- Tyler Heuring (O), Nolan Urhahn (O). 2B -- Ryan Sprandel (SL), Moore (O), Z. Chasteen (O), Blake Carlyle (O), Seth Ressel (O). Multiple hits -- Oran: Z. Chasteen 3-4, Urhahn 2-4, Carlyle 2-3, Alex Heuring 2-4. Records -- Saxony Lutheran 9-2, Oran 12-0.