Oran earns third straight final four bid

ORAN, Mo. -- The Oran baseball team walked quietly and quickly off the field after a bases-loaded strikeout ended their Class 1 quarterfinal against Naylor on Wednesday afternoon.

The Eagles' player who had the best game was so upset he had a meeting with all three Oran coaches after the team huddle broke.

In the dugout, a couple seniors yelled at their teammates to hurry up while players changed their shoes and packed up their bags. There was field maintenance to do, and they were anxious to leave.

It was not the scene you'd expect after a team clinches a trip to the final four, but it was the scene after Oran defeated Naylor 9-1.

It's not so much that the Oran players are unappreciative of a third consecutive trip to the final four. It's just that they have unfinished business.

"I would say determined," said senior Kody Moore of his team's attitude. "It wasn't a big, fancy celebration. It was kind of like, 'Good job. It's a good win.' It's just another step in achieving what we want to achieve, what we've had our minds set on all year long."

What every member of the Oran baseball team has on their minds is a state championship, which would be the first for the school in 12 trips to the final four.

Oran's Seth Ressel, left, congratulates Jacob Priggel on his third-inning solo home run during the Eagles' 9-1 quarterfinal win over Naylor on Wednesday. (ADAM VOGLER)

"That is the most important thing," senior catcher Alex Heuring said. "That's the reason we put on these jerseys every day is to work for this moment. That's what we've been battling for all year, and hopefully that's what we get."

The Eagles have finished third in Class 1 the past two seasons. Both years they lost their state semifinal by a run after committing five errors in the contest. Last season the loss came in extra innings.

"Yeah, we're excited, but we're ready," Heuring said. "We're focused. I mean, we've went up there twice and we should've done better things, but we've came away with two third-place finishes. But I think this year, it being coach Wood's last year, I think we're just focused and ready."

Oran will face Sturgeon in a state semifinal at 3 p.m. Monday at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon.

Wood, who will retire from coaching after the season, said there were reasons for celebrating even if there was no celebration.

"This group, the way we've played all year long, they've done a good job right here, and I'm glad they've worked hard enough to get back to the final four," Wood said. "Because honestly, when we watched them at the beginning of the year, they were OK, but at the same time we've had to work to get here and they've battled. So we've done some good things."

Wood pointed specifically to pitch selection as an area where the team has improved this season, and his players wasted little time picking out pitches to hit Wednesday.

Lead-off batter Seth Ressel doubled on the first pitch of the game and Kody Moore singled him home on the very next pitch to give Oran an early 1-0 lead.

"It's what we've wanted to do all year -- get on them early," Moore said. "Coach said, 'It's high school baseball. You're probably only going to see one great pitch in every at-bat.' Seth got a good pitch to hit and he hit a double. Then I got a good pitch, and it's really just being aggressive and swinging early in the count. That's all it really amounts to."

The only trouble for Oran came in the bottom of the inning when a one-out single and a throwing error allowed Naylor to score it's only run of the day off Moore, who allowed five hits and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings.

He was 3 for 4 at the plate with two doubles and five RBIs, two of which allowed Oran to retake the lead in the top of the second inning. Moore once again connected with the first pitch he saw.

"I was like, 'All right, he's probably not coming with a fastball first pitch here, so you're probably looking at some breaking ball," said Moore after explaining he had seen a fastball in his first at-bat. "He hung a curveball the first pitch, and I just read it. I read it well, and hit it good."

It was a performance that would be considered the game of a lifetime for many high school athletes given the situation, but it was mostly treated like just another performance by both Moore and Wood.

"I think everything was working today for him," Wood said. "His location was good. He battled his butt off. He got in a lot of high counts, and he battled his butt off. He's hit the ball all year long, so that's not a surprise for us. He's doing a good job."

Moore was displeased that he was relieved by Seth Ressel with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, which prompted a meeting with his coaches in the outfield following the game.

"He's a competitor and wants to stay in the ballgame, but he's up to 95 pitches," Wood said. "Sometimes you've just got to change it to see what's happening out there. That's the reason we did what we did."

Oran added two runs in the third inning, one on Jacob Priggel's solo home run, and four more in the fifth.

"I feel pretty good, but it hasn't really kicked in yet that we're going," said Priggel of a return trip to the final four. "We're getting a little more serious. It's good that we're getting a little more serious than last year because we know we've got one more thing left to do."

Oran 122 040 0 -- 9 8 1

Naylor 100 000 0 -- 1 5 2

WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Taylor Davis. HR -- Jacob Priggel (O). 2B -- Seth Ressel (O), Moore 2 (O), Trankler (O). Records -- Oran 20-5, Naylor 10-8.