Oran puts away Valle in six innings

STE. GENEVIEVE — Alex Chasteen started Wednesday's Class 1 state quarterfinal game on the mound for Oran.

And he finished it in the sixth inning by slugging a double to center field, capping the Eagles' 13-3 victory against Valle Catholic.

Oran (23-4) advanced to next week's final four at Meador Park in Springfield. The Eagles will face Stoutland (20-2) at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the semifinal round. Santa Fe (18-0) and New Haven (17-2) complete the tournament field.

Oran wore down Valle with a relentless attack that scored in all but one inning, pounded out 11 hits and took advantage of six errors, nine walks and a hit batsman.

"This is great," Oran center fielder Cody W. Dirnberger said. "I can't imagine anything that will feel better, except maybe winning a state championship finally."

The Eagles will be in the final four for the ninth time in school history and seventh time in the last 11 seasons. They have yet to win a state title.

Chasteen and Dirnberger were two of many contributors Wednesday for Oran, and both made their presence felt in a first inning that set the tone for the game.

After Chasteen set down Valle in order, Oran — playing as the host at Yanks Field — sent nine men to the plate for a four-run two-out rally. Jayden Pobst drove in the first run with a hit, Tyler Beardslee was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and the big blow was a two-run single by Dirnberger that doubled Oran's lead.

"Cody is really starting to hit the ball lately," Oran coach Mitch Wood said of his No. 8 hitter. "We're just hitting up and down the lineup. Our bottom of the order is doing a good job. It's just a team effort."

The Nos. 6 through 9 hitters — Jake Carter, Beardslee, Dirnberger and Alex Daniel — had two hits but also picked up six walks, the bases-loaded hit baseman and a sacrifice bunt.

On the top of the lineup, Kody Campbell, Steven Dooley, Chasteen and Pobst each had two hits. Chasteen had an RBI single in the fifth in addition to his RBI double in the sixth. Campbell drove in two with a single in the sixth.

The Eagles looked forward to taking their cuts.

"I wanted to get up to bat so bad," Pobst said. "We came out and hit the ball, and you can't do no better."

Spotted with an early four-run lead, Chasteen kept Valle from a hit until the fourth inning. Valle put together three of its five hits in that frame to cut Oran's lead to 6-1, but Pobst — a top pitcher noted for being able to throw in the 90s — prevented further damage by fielding a basehit to left field and gunning down Zach Weiler as he tried to score from second.

"I was hoping he would go," Pobst said. "I love a runner on third base when they try to go on a ball like that."

"When I saw him rounding third," Dirnberger said, "I knew he'd be hosed at the plate ... just as long as he didn't throw it over Caleb's head, actually."

Pobst came up gunning with a one-hop strike to catcher Caleb Seyer, who had plenty of time to apply the tag.

"You've seen him pitch," Wood said, "but evidently they haven't seen him a lot because you better be on your heels if you're going to run on him. He's got an arm on him."

Chasteen exited the game in the sixth inning with an 8-3 lead, having allowed one earned run. He allowed five hits, walked two and struck out five.

"He did a great job today," Wood said. "His curveball was real nasty today."

"The curveball is usually my best pitch, my most accurate pitch, believe it or not," Chasteen said. "But my fastball was above average for me today."

Wood took out Chasteen after the senior's 102nd pitch, which was an RBI triple to right field for Jason Blum in the sixth inning. Steven Dooley then struck out the next three batters.

"We just tried to get somebody else in there to change the momentum," Wood said.

It worked, as Oran closed out the game with a five-run rally.

Valle 000 111 — 3 5 6

Oran 411 025 — 13 11 4

WP — Alex Chasteen. LP — Nathan Geile. 2B — Caleb Seyer (O), Chasteen (O). 3B — Jason Blum (V). Multiple hits — Oran, Chasteen 2-4, Steven Dooley 2-3, Kody Campbell 2-4, Jayden Pobst 2-4. Records — Oran 23-4, Valle 21-6.