Oran baseball team scratches out win vs. Leopold

~ The Eagles emerged with a 6-3 win to improve to 2-0

ORAN, Mo. -- Oran coach Mitch Wood can tell his team isn't as sharp as he'd like them to be just two games into the season.

The Eagles' run in the Class 2 basketball playoffs may play some part in that, but the Eagles picked up their second win of the season Monday.

Oran did just enough to defeat Leopold 6-3 behind the efforts of starting pitcher Dalton Elfrink, who has earned the win in both games.

"We're just kind of living right, I guess, right now," Wood said. "We're not playing that well, but hopefully since we got a little bit of a late start to the season, we'll get better. It's going to take some adjustments, but we've got a long way to go."

The Eagles (2-0) banged out seven hits, including two from Seth Ressel, and took advantage of five Leopold fielding errors to scratch out the win.

Oran plated four runs due in large part to two errors in Leopold's outfield during the third inning. That erased a 2-1 deficit.

Elfrink began the inning with a double. He eventually tied the game on two wild pitches by Leopold starter Joe Elfrink. A single and an error during Blake Carlyle's at-bat led to Kody Moore scoring to give Oran its first lead of the game, 3-2.

"Any time you make five errors and a few mental mistakes, it leaves you fighting all the way through," Leopold coach James Lewis said. "You've got to be able to make those plays earlier in the game to get you out of those situations."

Both Carlyle and Trenton Hency later scored in the inning on a passed ball and Leopold's second error of the frame. That gave the Eagles a 5-2 edge.

"I thought we did a good job as far as baserunning and doing things right there," Wood said about the third inning.

Dalton Elfrink settled in from there. He struck out eight while allowing two runs on two hits and four walks over five innings. He suffered from a few deep counts and a few two-strike hits that kept him on the hill longer than intended.

"Last year he really struggled with that, and hopefully he can come out of that," Wood said. "Twice today he had a few 0-2 pitches that were up. Hopefully he can adjust to that and get better because right now he's struggling a bit with that."

Elfrink's only slip-up came in the first inning.

Leopold's Casey Graham hammered a two-out, two-strike pitch over the wall in left field for a two-run home run.

"Those are solid, gold plated," Lewis said. "It really gave us the momentum."

Dalton Elfrink went on to retire the next six batters he faced, including five by strikeout, and allowed just four other baserunners over the next four innings.

"We really needed to follow up on Graham's knock," Lewis said. "His hit took some of the wind out of [Oran's] sails a bit. A few more runs here and there may have changed things."

Leopold's Joe Elfrink took the loss after five innings of work. He gave up six runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven.

Leopold 200 000 1 -- 3 3 5

Oran 014 010 x -- 6 7 1

WP -- Dalton Elfrink (2-0). LP -- Joe Elfrink. S -- Kody Moore (1). 2B -- Seth Ressel (O), Dalton Elfrink (O). HR -- Casey Graham (L). Multiple hits -- Leopold: Austin Bucher 2-2; Oran: Ressel 2-4. Records -- Leopold 1-2, Oran 2-0.