Oran baseball team wins its rain-delayed sectional game vs. Cooter

COOTER, Mo. -- Oran sophomore Kody Moore hearkened back to his younger days to prepare for Tuesday's Class 1 sectional baseball game.

"Today was no problem because I felt right at home," he said. "I felt like I could come in and start the first inning, just back at Little League playing a few less innings."

Moore took the mound for the Eagles when their sectional game resumed Tuesday. The game was halted in the top of the third inning Monday when a storm struck.

Moore replaced Zac Chasteen, who started Monday, and pitched Oran into the quarterfinal round with a 5-2 win Tuesday.

Oran coach Mitch Wood decided Monday that he'd switch pitchers when play picked up Tuesday.

Oran baserunner Seth Ressel beats the throw to the plate to score a run against Cooter during the fourth inning Tuesday at the Class 1 sectional game in Cooter, Mo. (BRENT SHIPMAN ~ Sikeston Standard Democrat)

"Chasteen's arm, he's had trouble with it the last year," Wood said. "Moore's arm's been hurting a little so we're kind of in a dilemma. But we just kind of made that call to go there."

Moore ended up striking out four, but Wood wasn't overly pleased.

"It wasn't his best outing, but he hung in there and battled," Wood said. "I wasn't too impressed with it, but he battled."

Moore dismissed concerns about the arm trouble he experienced earlier in the season.

"Them are gone," he said. "There ain't nothing wrong with my arm at all."

Oran's Nolan Urhahn takes a swing during Tuesday's Class 1 sectional game in Cooter, Mo.

Oran showed no ill effects from having to wait a day to resume playing. Moore coaxed a couple of grounders to get out of the third inning before the Eagles' offense showed signs of life in the third inning.

"We were all really excited to come in and play today," Oran senior Tyler Heuring said. "We were a little down after getting rained out yesterday. We came in knowing we had to get the job done and it turned out pretty successful."

Oran used a walk, error and hit by pitch to load the bases with one out in the third. Heuring gave his team the lead with a flyball to deep left-center field for a sacrifice fly, but that's all Oran could manage.

Moore pitched around a leadoff double in the fourth to buy more time for his offense to ignite.

The Eagles capitalized on some miscues in the fourth. Chasteen reached on an error to start the inning and ended up at third after a pair of wild pitches. The second one was ball four to Blake Carlyle.

Cooter coach Allen Crawford decided he'd seen enough from pitcher Zach Watkins, who returned to the mound Tuesday after starting Monday. Seth Ressel jumped on the first pitch he saw from reliever Jordan Anderson. Ressel flicked a soft liner to center field for an RBI and Oran's first hit of the contest.

"I was just looking for a fastball for a hit," Ressel said.

Wood offered his freshman a tip about Anderson, whom Wood coached on a prospect team last summer.

"I'm not one of these take-a-strike guys," Wood said. "In high school, you may get one good strike an at-bat. That's my feeling. So we're always looking for a good pitch. He's been doing a good job all year for us."

Anderson responded by striking out the next three, but the second strikeout didn't result in an out. Dylan Dannenmueller swung and missed but the ball hit the dirt. He started running toward first and the home-plate umpire said the catcher tagged Dannenmueller even though the catcher missed him. The catcher tossed the ball back to Anderson, but Dannenmueller kept running to first base.

Wood pleaded his case to the plate umpire and asked that he check with the third-base umpire, who ruled there was no tag and that Dannenmueller was safe.

Oran made Cooter pay.

Dalton Elfrink ripped a two-run single to right and Heuring followed with a run-scoring single to right field to push the Eagles' lead to 5-0. Cooter committed three errors in the inning.

"We hadn't played a game like that in seven or eight games," Crawford said about his team's four errors in the contest. "We've been lights out defensively."

Cooter loaded the bases with one out in the fifth but only managed one run. The Wildcats capped their scoring when Anderson ripped a two-out homer to center field in the seventh inning, but Moore got a grounder by Dustin Franklin to end the contest.

Crawford lamented his team's missed chances.

"When you leave nine runners on against Oran, you're flirting with disaster and that's what we did," he said.

The Eagles will return to the field today for the third time in as many days. They will host Naylor, a 9-2 winner over Oak Ridge. The winner will advance to the Class 1 final four.

Wood planned to use Elfrink on the mound, but the right-hander was injured during Tuesday's game.

"We was looking at Elfrink but his foot, he got cleated or something," Wood said. "He's bad right now. He's hobbling bad. I don't know. The good thing is we've got options."

Cooter 000 010 1 -- 2 5 4

Oran 001 400 x -- 5 4 2

WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Zach Watkins. HR -- Jordan Anderson (C). 2B -- Patrick Ward (C), Dustin Franklin (C). Multiple hits -- Cooter: Ward 2-4; Oran: Seth Ressel 2-3. Records -- Cooter 21-5, Oran 22-2.