ORAN - In the Class 1A, District 2 baseball tournament, things have played as seeded, so far. Today at 4:30 p.m. junior Ryne Wood and the Oran Eagles will face the Bell City Cubs and Jason Rampley. Wood, who is 4-1 on the season, could lead the Eagles to their first district championship in three years.
Junior Trey Graviett (6-3) led the Eagles on Wednesday as he threw six innings and only allowed three earned runs while mowing down five. Graviett also helped himself by hitting two homeruns on the day. He hit a grand slam in the sixth and a three-run home run in the seventh.
Graviett's counterpart, Phillip Stoll, threw 6 and 1/3 innings, allowed 13 hits and 11 earned runs. Stoll went 2-4 with a dinger and two RBI's in the losing effort.
Joey Bickings and Tyler Cookson both had hot bats for Oran as well as both doubled on the day. Garrett Roslen went 3-5 with an RBI and a run scored for the Eagles as well.
All that could be said about St. Vincent on Wednesday was that they had their chances.
The Indians had runners on first and second base in the third inning and runners on second and third in the fourth, but could not bring any one around to score.
Bell City, who only had one hit and four baserunners on the day, scored their only run in the bottom of the first.
Pitcher Ben Duncan walked, and after stealing second, scored on Ty Brown's double.
Duncan threw six and one-third innings and struck out 11.
Alex Armbruster only allowed one hit in six innings of work while striking out 10.
St. Vincent left a total of six runners on the basepaths throughout the game.
CHAFFEE -- In semifinal action of the Class 2A, District 1 tournament at Harmon Field Wednesday, Notre Dame pounded Woodland 16-2 in five innings and Kelly slipped past Grandview 4-3 with a run in its final at bat. Top-seeded Notre Dame (15-5) jumped on Woodland starter Luke Johnson for 10 first-inning runs to reach today's 4 p.m. championship game against the third-seeded Hawks.
Timmy Wencewicz sparked the rout by lining a drive over the right center-field fence for his sixth home run, scoring leadoff hitter Dustin Klipfel and Shane Kistner -- both had singled -- to put Notre Dame up 3-0.
In the nightmarish inning for fifth-seed Woodland (13-9), the Bulldogs took advantage of a passed ball, a wild pitch, six walks and three errors wrapped around RBI singles from Blake Urhahn and Klipfel.
Notre Dame added four more in the third inning with Jeff Brosey and Dustin Tatum each ripping two-run singles. The Bulldogs tacked on two unearned runs in the fourth after two were out. Starting pitcher Brosey (4-1) cruised as he allowed three hits and only one run in four innings. Brosey struck out four and walked three. Jared Jinkerson mopped up the win, pitching the fifth.
Brosey also led the Bulldogs at the plate with three hits in three trips. Wencewicz, Klipfel and Urhahn each went 2-for-2. Travis Benfield had two singles to account for half of Woodland's four-hit total.
Third-seed Kelly (10-10) advanced to the final in a tightly contested game against seventh-seed Grandview (8-9), surprise winners over second-seeded Chaffee on Tuesday.
"That was one of the most competitive games I've seen at this level," Kelly coach John Gandt said.
With the score tied at three in the bottom of the seventh, Kelly's Barry Ziegler doubled with one out. Next batter Chase Deason hit a groundball that took a bad hop over the glove of the Grandview shortstop and bounced into left field.
Ziegler, attempting to score on the play, was gunned down on a perfect strike to the plate by Grandview left-fielder Dallas Wilson. Ziegler and Grandview catcher Richie Pastrana collided as the ball and runner arrived simultaneously, but Pastrana held on for the second out with Deason advancing to second base.
Then designated hitter Jarrod Staggs picked a perfect spot to deliver his only hit of the day. His single to center field scored Deason with the game-winning run.
Deason (4-1) picked up the win in relief of starter Tyler Schlosser, who pitched six strong innings. Schlosser allowed three runs, one unearned, on three hits with six strikeouts. Major Burger, Todd Brucker and Schlosser paced the Hawk offense with two hits each. Brian Dugan had two hits for Grandview.
JACKSON -- Thanks to a 16-hit barrage and the steady pitching of Austin McDowell, Jackson is just one victory away from its first district baseball championship in 10 years.
The top-seeded, host Indians (13-6) pounded fifth-seeded Poplar Bluff (8-17) 12-2 in Wednesday's first semifinal of the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament at Legion Field.
Second-seeded Farmington (15-8) defeated third-seeded Hillsboro (13-12) 6-4 in the other semifinal, setting up today's 5 p.m. title contest between Jackson and Farmington.
Brad Berry went 4-for-4 with two doubles. He also drove in four runs and scored twice. Michael Birk, Dusty Roberts, Trevor Thompson, Jake Carter and Josh Parham all added two hits as eight of Jackson's nine starters hit safely.
The offensive showing was more than enough for McDowell (5-3), a junior right-hander who fired a four-hitter, with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Both Poplar Bluff runs were unearned. McDowell came close to getting a shutout as the Indians led 10-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning (Poplar Bluff was the home team on the scoreboard). Another scoreless frame for the Mules and the game would end on the 10-run mercy rule. A Jackson error in the sixth -- its first miscue of the day -- led to a run as the Mules kept the contest going. Three more Jackson errors in the seventh accounted for the Mules' final run. Jackson scored single runs in each of the first two innings, then chased Poplar Bluff starter Matt Atteberry in the third, when the Indians broke the game open with five runs. The Mules used five pitchers in the contest.
HOLCOMB -- In 1A District 1 action at Holcomb, Bernie defeated Clarkton 3-1 and Southland nipped Holcomb 7-6. Bernie will face Southland in the semifinals today at 2 p.m. In today's other semifinal game, Cooter will face North Pemiscot at 4 p.m.
In Wednesday's 2A District 3 title game, Clearwater's five-year championship run came to an end. Twin Rivers beat out the Tigers in eight innings, 8-7, and will face the winner of District 4 next week.
Some information provided by SEMO News Service.