Oran baseball team rallies to survive scare at East Prairie

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Oran's 13th game of the season nearly was an unlucky one.

Oran had to fight through a late-inning deficit at East Prairie to remain unbeaten and debunk the unlucky No. 13 myth for a 5-3 win.

"That is an unlucky number, isn't it?" Oran coach Mitch Wood said jokingly. "We struggled a little bit, but right now we're finding ways to win ballgames."

Oran headed into the bottom of the fifth inning ahead by one run but hit a bump in the road when East Prairie rallied for two runs.

A leadoff single by Ryan Mathis set the stage for East Prairie. An error on a fielder's choice put Mathis and Dalton Golightly on second and first with no outs.

A hit up the middle by Nathan Maynard two batters later allowed Mathis to tie the game at 1-1 and moved Golightly to third base.

Maynard was the last batter Oran starter Dalton Elfrink faced.

Elfrink gave way to Zac Chasteen after 4 1/3 innings.

A walk to Shawn King loaded the bases for Mikey Russell, who smoked a line drive off Oran's new pitcher. The shot to Chasteen's torso bounced away from the mound, downing Chasteen for a brief period and allowing Golightly to give East Prairie a 2-1 lead.

Chasteen regrouped from the line drive and coaxed a force out at home then a fly ball to short left-center field to end the inning and East Prairie's threat.

Oran regained the lead in the top of the sixth and didn't trail again. It took advantage of two infield miscues by East Prairie that allowed Seth Ressel and Dylan Dannenmueller to advance to second and third with no outs.

East Prairie's third error of the inning, on a deep fly ball to right-center field off the bat of Kody Moore, tied the game at 2-2.

An RBI single by Tyler Heuring put Oran back in the driver's seat.

Chasteen added Oran's fourth run on a sacrifice fly.

The Eagles made it 5-2 in the top of the seventh on a double by Blake Carlyle then an RBI fielder's choice by Ressel. East Prairie got out of the inning on a 5-4-3 double play to limit the damage.

East Prairie (4-6) tried mounting a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Alan Miller reached first and went to second on an infield error by Oran. Miller eventually came around to score when Russell singled with two outs.

Chasteen ended up getting the win on the mound after pitching 2 2/3 innings. He allowed one unearned run on two hits, both by Russell.

Russell was the hard-luck loser. He gave up five runs but only two were earned over 6 1/3 innings.

Oran (13-0) returns to action Monday against Charleston.

Oran 001 003 1 -- 5

East Prairie 000 020 1 -- 3

WP -- Zac Chasteen. LP -- Mikey Russell. 2B -- Blake Carlyle (O). Records -- Oran 13-0, East Prairie 4-6.