Scott County Central baseball team topples Leopold to advance to district semis

ORAN, Mo.. -- Before the first pitch of the Class 1 District 2 baseball tournament was thrown Saturday, there only was one certainty about the day's action: There would be no fly balls lost in the sun.

Everything else on the all turf field with dirt sliding pits at Oran High School was a bit more unpredictable due to the sun's replacement.

Playing in rainy conditions where rakes for the groundskeepers -- and Kwik Dry -- were as vital as bats for hitters, fourth-seeded Scott County Central began the afternoon of soggy play with a 6-2 victory over fifth-seeded Leopold.

The Braves (10-9) avenged an early-season, run-rule loss administered by the Wildcats in moving into a semifinal contest against top-seeded and state-ranked Bell City (19-3).

After the game, SCC coach Matt Limbaugh started with Oran coach Joe Bickings and the Eagles before passing praise to his own team.

"Props to Oran for getting the field ready," Limbaugh said. "I know there were some [districts] that didn't get to play today, so we were excited that Oran got the field in good shape, and I thought it was in good playing condition."

And his squad made the best of the situation, banging four doubles among its nine hits in backing the three-hit pitching of senior Jordan Griggs and turning in some timely defensive plays in the slick conditions.

The Braves wasted no time in jumping on the Wildcats, matching their three-hit total accumulated in the 11-1 loss on April 1 loss in a three-run first inning.

"We wanted to come out and show them what we're really made of and get our redemption in," said senior shortstop Steven Burton, who went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. "We came out and played our hearts out and got the win."

Griggs took the loss in the previous encounter, lasting just three innings.

Leopold's Zach Elfrink scores against Scott County Central catcher Gavin Pobst during the sixth inning of a Class 1 District 2 quarterfinal Saturday, May 16, 2015 in Oran, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"We knew we were a better team than when we played them earlier this season, and we wanted to come out and show it," said Griggs, who struck out nine batters and walked four in pitching a complete game in the rematch.

Griggs struck out the first two Wildcats he faced in a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, and the Braves wasted little time in jumping on Leopold starter Garrett Thele in the bottom half.

Leadoff batter Colten Winter doubled to right-center, moved to third on a bunt single by No. 2 hitter Jacob Brown and scored on an RBI groundout by Burton. Gavin Post reached on an infield single before Brody Ditto delivered a two-run double to right-center with one out for a 3-0 lead.

"The three runs in the first inning really kind of got us going, and Jordan kept us in the ballgame -- it's what he's done all year for us as a senior leader," Limbaugh said.

SCC scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to increase the lead.

Burton led off the third inning with a double to right-center and scored on a Leopold throwing error on Ditto's one-out grounder to third.

The Braves were in position to break the game open in the fourth after Jacob Brown singled with the bases loaded to score Chris Johnson for a 5-0 lead. With the rain picking up in intensity and the bases loaded and nobody out, Burton lofted a fly ball to shallow left-center. Left fielder Cody Gentry made the catch with his momentum headed toward right field, turned and threw home to nail Drake Kessler at the plate. Thele then coaxed a groundout to end the threat.

Leopold (3-16) had its chance to cut into the gap in its next at-bat but also was thwarted by a bases-loaded double play. Griggs walked the first two batters of the inning, recorded a strikeout, then walked Thele on four straight pitches to load the bases.

The Wildcats' No. 2 batter Tristen Graham then sent a sharp one-hop shot skipping up the middle, but Burton gloved the ball, stepped on second and fired to first to extinguish the threat.

"He bailed me," Griggs said. "I trust him the most in the field. He makes those plays all the time. I trust him completely."

"I was doing my job out there," Burton said. "I told him I had his back at the get-go, and I had to prove my point."

The play maintained Grigg's shutout to that point, preserving the five-run cushion in what had the potential for a big inning.

"He kept that momentum going for us," Limbaugh said. "He made a great play. He's about the only 280-pound shortstop that can make that play."

Leopold did score two unearned runs in the sixth on a two-out throwing error, but Griggs retired the next four batters to close out the game.

"We were a couple plays away offensively and defensively," Leopold coach John Sauer said. "We just couldn't put anything together. They just played better than us today. We make a catch here or a clutch hit there and we're back in it, but it's kind of how our season went."

John Gray had two of Leopold's three hits.

Meanwhile, the Braves' first four batters in the lineup when 8 for 15. Winter, Brown, Barton and Pobst each had two hits.

"They've gotten a lot better since we've last seen them, and we've had a couple of tough breaks this year, and they just played better than us today," Sauer said.

It was the 10th victory of the season for the Braves, who have surfaced above .500 after the slow start. The early-season blowout loss to Leopold had dropped SCC to 0-3, which came on the heels of a 1-9 season.

Griggs said the Braves area better at "everything" as compared with earlier in the season.

"We're stronger as a team and playing together better," Griggs said.

The Braves could tie a school record for single-season wins with a victory Monday against Bell City, a team they lost to 13-2 earlier this year.

"It doesn't get any easier," Limbaugh said. "You've got one of the best teams in the state of Missouri on Monday. So you're got to bring an A-plus-plus game to got with those boys. But we're excited for the opportunity."

Leopold 000 002 0 -- 2 3 1

SCC 301 101 x -- 6 9 2

WP -- Jordan Griggs. LP -- Garrett Thele. 2B -- Colten Winter (SCC), Stephen Barton (SCC), Brody Ditto (SCC), Jordan Griggs (SCC). Multiple hits -- Leopold : John Gray 2-3; Scott County Central: Winter 2-3, Jacob Brown 2-4, Barton 2-4, Gavin Pobst 2-4.

Advance 11, Oak Ridge 2

Winning pitcher C.J. Seger threw a complete game and went 4 for 4 at the plate to lead the third-seeded Hornets to the semifinals.

Seger had a double along with teammates Kade Long and Brendan Crader as the Hornets banged out 14 hits. Rusty Welker, Drew Fowler and Long all finished with two hits.

Seger struck out nine and walked two in seven innings. Both runs he gave up were unearned.

Nathan Bolin had two of Oak Ridge's six hits, including a double. Sixth-seeded Oak Ridge finished its season at 2-17.

Advance (6-15) will face second-seeded Oran in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Monday.

Oak Ridge 020 000 0 -- 2 6 2

Advance 401 060 0 -- 11 14 2

WP -- C.J. Seger. LP -- Curray. 2B -- Nathan Bolin (OR), Seger (A), Kade Long (A), Brendan Crader (A). Multiple hits -- Oak Ridge: Bolin 2-3; Advance: Rusty Welker 2-4, Seger 4-4, Drew Fowler 2-3, Long 2-3.

Oran 27, Richland 0

Second-seeded Oran pounded out 23 hits and Layne Johnson struck out 12 batters in throwing a no-hitter.

The Eagles scored at least four runs in all four of their innings.

Cole Priggel had a home run for the Eagles, while Jacob Priggel, Hunter Schlosser, Clay Sauceda, Drew Reischman and Tanner Mcvay each had a double. Sauceda, Blake Overfield and Jacob Priggel each had three hits for Oran (14-6).

Richland 000 00 -- 0 0 6

Oran 478 8x -- 27 23 0

WP -- Layne Johnson. LP -- Azure. 2B -- Jacob Priggel (O), Hunter Schlosser (O), Clay Sauceda (O), Drew Reischman (O), Tanner Mcvay (O). HR -- Cole Priggel (O). Multiple hits -- Oran: Preston Hahn 2-4, J. Priggel 3-4, Schlosser 2-3, Reischman 2-4, Sauceda 3-3, Blake Overfield 3-4, Tanner Mcvay 2-2.