Oran makes it three straight crowns

The Eagles disposed of Advance 10-0 in the Class 1 District 2 final.

By Toby Carrig

Southeast Missourian

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Oran senior pitcher Matt Seyer told his teammates they would not need to score too many runs in Thursday's Class 1 District 2 final against Advance. Give him a little cushion, he said, and he'd take care of the rest.

Seyer held up to his end of the bargain, limiting Advance to three hits over five innings. The Oran offense exploded anyway in a 10-0 victory for the Eagles' third straight district championship.

Seyer scored once and drove in three runs, including the final two nails in the coffin with a bases-loaded double with no one out in the bottom of the fifth.

Oran (20-3) had 10 hits plus two walks and two hit batsman and also took advantage of six errors and a couple of other miscues.

"We've been pleasantly surprised with our offense this year," Oran coach Mitch Wood said. "I sure didn't think we'd do it the whole year.

"They got rattled, and we jumped on them."

Oran's lineup also backed Seyer with flawless play in the field, as the Eagles recorded their third shutout in three district games.

"I just let 'em hit the ball and they know they're job is to be ready," Seyer said.

Seyer struck out four and allowed a runner to second base only once all day. Oran turned one double play, which came on a hit and run.

"We haven't seen a pitcher like that for a while," Advance coach Bob Moses said. "It was hard for our kids to adjust to that. The kids we've seen were pretty good but not like that. This kid, he's a fine pitcher."

Seyer improved to 7-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.14.

Matt or Chase Seyer will get the call Wednesday when Oran plays host to North Pesmiscot (16-4) in a Class 1 sectional game.

Matt Seyer scored the game's first run in the first inning with a single, a stolen base and an error on the fielder taking the throw, then a single by Garrett Roslen.

Oran blew the game open with six runs in the fourth. Paul Bucher and Chase Seyer had hits before Austin Dumey walked. Craig Friga chopped a two-run single up the middle. Brent Graviett and Matt Seyer drove in runs while making outs. But Oran added two more runs with two outs: Trevor Irwin reached on a two-base error, then Roslen doubled him home and scored on an infield throwing error.

Smelling blood, Oran went for the kill in the fifth. Advance pitcher Alex Sample, who suffered the loss, loaded the bases and hit Graviett with a pitch to bring in one run. Sample was lifted for Jeremy Limbaugh, who surrended the double to Matt Seyer that ended the game.

Advance finished 17-6 for Moses, who was in his first season after taking over an eight-win team from a year ago.

"My expectations for this year were that we were lucky if we got to .500," Moses said. "I think we did a lot better than that.

"We got beat by an exceptional ballclub."

Oran 10, Advance 0

Advance 000 00 -- 0 3 6

Oran 100 63 -- 10 10 0

WP -- Matt Seyer, 7-2. LP -- Alex Sample. 2B -- Garrett Roslen (O), Matt Seyer (0). Multiple hits -- Oran, Matt Seyer 2-3; Roslen 2-2; Chase Seyer 2-3; Craig Friga 2-3. Records -- Oran 20-3; Advance 17-6.