Menu
Believe it: Oran claims first state championship in school history
O'FALLON -- After nine unsuccessful trips to the final four in the past, the Oran Eagles and longtime head coach Mitch Wood had, fairly or unfairly, been stuck with the label of not being able to win the big one.
On Wednesday, only one label mattered to coach and players alike: champions.
Exercising over two decades worth of demons for a program and community always on the cusp of greatness, the Eagles fought back from a four-run deficit Wednesday to take down defending champion Santa Fe 8-4 to claim the first state title in school history.
"I don't know how many times I've heard the word elusive and things like that," Wood said of winning the championship. "This solidifies what we're all about. We've had some very good teams come through this program and not come out with first place.
"We're not going to here a lot more about the elusive trophy. I really think this is going to be the start of a new beginning."
Win or lose, a new beginning was almost certain from the start as Wood made it known before the playoffs began that this, his 21st year at the helm of the program, would be his last.
In their nine previous trips to the final four, all since 1998, Wood guided the Eagles to six third place finishes while falling three times in the championship game.
Early on in Wednesday's contest, it looked like the Eagles would be relegated to another second place finish as the Chiefs collected six hits in the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead. All the while their starter, Keaton Graf, kept Oran hitters guessing with a no-hit bid that lasted through the fourth frame.
In what could have been the final at-bat of his career, however, Oran senior Kody Moore brought Santa Fe's momentum to a screeching halt.
Leading off the fifth, Moore sent a drive into deep centerfield for double that set off an avalanche in the Eagles' lineup.
By the end of the frame not only did Oran break up the shutout, they rallied for eight runs on five hits and three walks to send a stunned Chiefs squad down 8-4 entering the sixth.
"We've always battled back no matter what," Moore said. "After a tough loss or when we're down 4-0 in the state championship. We're a scrappy team. We don't quit and we don't lose easy."
With one out and the bases loaded, sophomore Hunter Schlosser put the Eagles on the board with a line drive up the middle that plated two. Senior Alex Heuring closed the team back within a run scoring on a passed ball before a grounder up the first base side from Chance Tenkhoff tied the game.
A passed ball with the bases loaded brought in the go-ahead run, followed by Moore driving in a pair of insurance runs with his second hit of the rally. A double from Heuring scored Moore to cap run barrage and give Oran an 8-4 advantage.
"I didn't want our team to go out 4-0," Schlosser said of the big inning. "I wanted to get a rally going and everybody pumped and on the dugout fence. Once we started hitting everybody was up on the fence, nobody was hanging their head anymore. Everybody was going out there and putting up a battle at the plate."
Collecting a walk in his only trip to the plate that inning, junior Seth Ressel credited patience with finally getting to Santa Fe's starter.
"The first couple of innings he was throwing real hard and was getting strikes," he said. "Later we found out that he was having trouble controlling it so we started taking first pitches. That got us deeper in counts and got us walks."
Though the Eagles' offensive outburst was limited to the one inning, Moore sent the Chiefs down in order in the sixth to leave his team only three outs from the title.
He got a ground out and a line out to start the seventh, but before he could close things out back-to-back hits from Santa Fe forced Wood to play it safe by having Moore and co-ace Ressel swap positions.
Ressel came to the mound and forced a Santa Fe hitter into a swinging third strike to send his teammates rushing the mound.
"It's all overwhelming," Moore said of the win. "You just think of all the hard work you put in for four years. It's just all the hard work me, Alex and all the seniors have put in this year and for the last four years.
"Just thinking of all that and then the prize. It comes down to the last game of the year, the last couple innings actually. It's just an amazing feeling."
In his final start for the Eagles, Moore collected the win going 6 2/3 innings where he allowed four runs, two earned, on 10 hits and three walks. He struck out three.
At the plate Moore and Chance Tenkhoff had two hits each to lead a six-hit effort. Schlosser and senior Alex Heuring contributed a single and double respectively.
"Everything finally came through for us," Heuring said. "We finally pulled it off. (Coach Wood) has been here 12 or 13 times (as a player and coach) and to finally win one for him and the town is just great.
"He's a great coach and finally we were able pull through and win him one."
After Tuesday's semifinal win over Sturgeon, Wood praised the contributions of his bottom of his order, consisting of Dustin Gebhardt, Tenkhoff and Thomas Trankler.
The trio stepped it up a notch against the Chiefs, collecting five walks and two hits while reaching base in 8 of 12 appearances as a group.
"This whole year the bottom of the order hasn't been doing so well," Tenkhoff said. "But coach always says there's going to be one time you guys are going to have to shine.
"I guessed we shined today."
Santa Fe 130 000 0 - 4 10 3
Oran 000 080 x - 8 6 2
WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Keaton Graf. Multiple hitters: (S) Chad Tieman 3-4, Wyatt Wilkinson 2-3, Keaton Graf 2-4; (O) Kody Moore 2-4, Chance Tenkhoff 2-3. 2B -- (S) Andrew Curry; (O) Moore, Alex Heuring.