Oran's hitters are drilled in the Eagles' way

Oran junior Jayden Pobst provided a simple explanation for the reason his offensive statistics have skyrocketed this season.

Pobst is hitting .385. He leads the Eagles with nine home runs and he has 37 RBIs after receiving just seven plate appearances all last spring.

"I know that I'm not going to get to play if I don't hit," Pobst said. "It's as simple as that. ... Everyone else is doing their job, so I've got to do my job."

Pobst is correct. Everyone in the lineup is doing their job as Oran as an entire team is having an eye-popping year offensively.

The Eagles (23-4) enter Wednesday's Class 1 state semifinal game against Stoutland with a .373 team batting average, 38 home runs and 258 RBIs in 27 games.

They have a .502 team on-base percentage, a .639 slugging percentage and have averaged 11.7 runs per game. They have four players in the lineup who have hit at least seven home runs, and even their No. 9 hitter has smacked three homers.

This is nothing new.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com The 2008 Eagles, led by senior Kody Campbell, have adhered to Oran's long tradition of pummeling opposing pitchers. The Eagles have scored 11.7 runs per game and batted .373 in building a 23-4 record and reaching the Class 1 final four.

Oran coach Mitch Wood said for as long as he can remember he has always had strong offensive teams.

A number of variables contribute to Oran having a strong lineup every year, including what Pobst said about how he would not have played unless he started hitting. Wood expects his players to hit the ball hard, and he has even told certain players that they need to produce offensively or else they will not have a spot in the lineup.

Oran's success is also traced to the lengthy batting practice session held each day throughout the spring. Each Eagles player will take between 75 to 150 cuts per day. Additionally, Wood spends much of his time examining and adjusting his players' swings and teaching them the same patient approach at the plate, which centers on looking for one good strike in each at-bat.

"The main thing I think we do better than anybody is just that we take a lot of cuts," Wood said. "Our approach, more than anything, is to just hit, hit and hit some more, and when you get tired of hitting, hit some more. Our freshmen can tell you that the first time they ever showed up for practice, the first day their hands were blistered up because they swung the bat so many times."

Senior Steven Dooley, who is batting .398 with 16 RBIs, came to Oran during his junior year after playing two seasons at Chaffee. He said Oran takes much more daily batting practice than Chaffee.

"The first week of practice it's pretty rough," Dooley said. "You have a lot of blisters."

The Oran lineup appears to have no holes from top to bottom.

Leadoff hitter Kody Campbell is batting .535 with seven homers and 34 RBIs. Dooley follows as the No. 2 hitter. Caleb Seyer hits third with seven homers, 36 RBIs and a .485 average, while cleanup hitter Alex Chasteen sports a .363 average with one homer and 26 RBIs.

Pobst follows in the fifth slot with nine homers. Jake Carter bats sixth with a .343 average and 17 RBIs. He is followed by Tyler Beardslee with eight homers, 40 RBIs and a .393 average. No. 8 hitter Cody Dirnberger has 3 homers, 21 RBIs and a .290 average. Alex Daniel bats ninth with 3 homers, 14 RBIs and a .255 average.

"What's really good about it is, that really one through nine, I've got kids who can hit the ball out of the ballpark," Wood said.

High expecations

Dooley said he believes all Oran players develop a mindset that they must hit consistently so they won't fall behind their other teammates.

"Here we hit every day, a lot, and I think it might be a lot of a mindset that everybody else hits, so you have to hit, too."

Wood admitted he has high expectations. Before the season started, the coach told Pobst, Carter and Daniel they needed to start hitting or else they might not play much.

Wood now calls those three his most improved hitters.

"It's one of those things," Wood said. "We told them at the end of last year and the beginning of this year when we were hitting: 'It's pretty simple. You're going to have to put the ball in play or you're not going to get to bat. We'll have people hit and we'll have people play some defense just as good."

Campbell, who has been a four-year varsity starter, said having so many capable hitters does not put pressure on the starters or make them fear losing their spot after a couple hitless games.

"I wouldn't call it pressure," Campbell said. "I would say there's less pressure because you know if you don't get a hit, then the next guy that comes up is just as capable as you are of getting a big hit and knocking in a run and winning the game."

Hit, hit, hit

Campbell said Oran spends an adequate amount of time practicing defense, but the majority of most practices focus on hitting.

"It's the main thing we do," Campbell said. "We take some ground balls, and some fly balls and stuff, and then we come and hit the rest of the time. ... We've always done that. As long as I've been here, that's all we've done is hit, hit, hit, hit every day."

Oran sets up a few stations, including live batting practice, soft toss and tee work. The 75 to 150 cuts per day is a combination of the three stations.

"A lot of people think [using tees] is old school and little league, but our kids use tees every day, and I think it's very important in hitting," Wood said.

Oran even brings a tee to its road games. Wood said hitting off a tee helps hitters learn to keep their heads still and helps them develop a hitting zone.

One solid pitch

Wood closely examines hitters' swings when they are freshmen. He also emphasizes to each player to look for one solid pitch. He said with high school baseball, hitters often get only one good strike per plate appearance, if that.

"You've got to be patient and look for that," Wood said.

"We swing the bats a lot," Wood added "We'll swing at some bad pitches, but we swing the bats a lot. We don't watch a lot of third strikes. We don't watch a lot of strikes go by. The approach we try to take is that you look for a first strike that you can hit hard. What we try to get our hitters to know is that you've got to be comfortable that with two strikes you can still hit the baseball, so you're not waving at everything that's even close. Our stats show that we're good two-strike hitters."

Although Wood wants his hitters to be patient and wait for one quality strike, he also said that sometimes the approach means being aggressive and swinging at the first pitch.

"If it's a good pitch, and he's ready to hit, we try to focus on hitting the first pitch right off," Wood said.

He also emphasizes hitting the ball where it is pitched.

Campbell said he's been told by his coaches to be aggressive and swing at strikes, even as the leadoff hitter.

He said in three-fourths of his games, he has swung at the first pitch.

"Usually, you're going to see a first-pitch strike,' Campbell said. "I just try to put a pretty good swing on it. It's a lot better if you get a hit than if you get out on the first pitch because that doesn't make the pitcher work very much, but I've asked a lot of people about hitting leadoff — my coaches — and they said 'don't change your approach from hitting down lower in the order. So I've just stuck with what's working for me so far.'"

Can hitting win a state championship?

"I think it can," Wood said. "But I think what wins championships is a combination of both [hitting and pitching]"

Pobst said that one thing is for sure. While Oran continues to preprare for Wednesday, it will take a lot of cuts.

"We'll continue to hit until it's over," Pobst said. "That's just how he is. That's how Mitch Wood is. We're going to hit. We're going to hit. We're going to hit."