Oran squeaks out 1-0 victory over Advance in title game

Thursday, May 22, 2014

ORAN -- Oran senior pitcher Seth Ressel did what he was expected to do Wednesday afternoon in the Class 1 District 2 baseball championship. And what he was expected to do was whatever it took to make sure the Eagles beat rival Advance.

"He was incredible," Oran coach Kody Campbell said. "Everybody saw that was here. It's unbelievable, but that's what we expect him to do -- to go out and compete and work and work and never quit. There was a few innings where it wasn't looking so good for us. He didn't get rattled. He kept his composure and made good, competitive, quality pitches in the bottom of the strike zone. We got lucky a couple times with some balls hit at some people, but that's what you expect from your senior and your ace. That's what an ace does, keeps you in a game."

Ressel allowed just two hits but needed to navigate around four errors and at least one runner on base in all but one inning to lead Oran to a 1-0 victory over the Hornets in eight innings on his home field.

"Seth's one of those guys, he's going to compete and he wants to beat Advance more than he wants to beat anyone else, I guarantee that," said Advance coach Chris Asmus, who served as a coach to Ressel last summer.

"And he wasn't about to give in and let Advance take another one away from him this year," Asmus said, making a reference to Advance's defeat of Oran is the district basketball championship.

Oran junior Jacob Priggel drove home the winning run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth on a 2-2 pitch. Priggel hit it just deep enough into the hole between third and shortstop that there was no time to throw out the speedy Preston Hahn, who hit an infield single to start the inning.

"I just knew the pressure was totally on him. It wasn't on me," Priggel said. "I could hit a pop up or a groundball or anything and it was pretty much going to win. And I got ahead in the count, so I knew that I was going to hit him, I hadn't missed any all day."

Advance starter Brian Whitson lamented missed location on his final pitch.

"It was a fastball on the inside part of the plate," Whitson said. "I tried throwing it on the outside corner to get it to go to the right side of the infield, but the fielder couldn't do anything. He made a good play. He got to it. He just couldn't make a play. It was just a tough play."

Whitson, a sophomore who traveled back from Springfield on Tuesday night after finishing fourth in the Class 1 state golf tournament, used his fastball-curveball combination to match Ressel inning after inning. He allowed seven hits, three of which came in the final inning and never left the infield.

"Everything was great today," Whitson said. "I pitched good. I haven't pitched this good since last summer. It was probably the best I pitched all season. I haven't even been to practice in a while, so that's what was great about it. Still sucks that we came up one run short."

Advance (14-14) had a prime opportunity to take the lead in the top of the seventh inning when Ressel issued one of his two walks in the game to Brandon Sokolowski to lead off the inning. Ressel fielded a bunt from Creighton Miles, and attempted to throw out pinch runner Brendan Crader at second base, but threw the ball into centerfield instead.

"In my head -- we got the guy out at second last time -- so I should have known better that they would be running sooner when they bunted it, so I should have just threw it to first," Ressel said. "Just a freshman mistake I should not have been making."

No. 9 hitter CJ Seger successfully sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out, giving lead-off batter Garrett Walker a chance to squeeze.

"The way we've won games all year has been squeeze plays. ... We've squeezed a zillion games it seems like, so that's what's worked for us," Asmus said. "I've always heard to dance with the girl you brought."

Walker whiffed on his first attempt and, with confirmation that the squeeze was on and a belief that Asmus would call for it again, Ressel located his next pitch high and outside.

Walker missed again and Crader was caught off third base for the second out. With the squeeze off, Walker swung and rocketed a ball up the middle, which Ressel managed to snag before it drilled his leg.

"We took our out, and then we got lucky on the squeeze that the guy couldn't get it down two times in a row," Campbell said. "Then Seth made a great play on that line drive right back at him. That was a fluke play. The guy hit the ball hard. He did everything he could do, but baseball's a weird game and he got unlucky. I'm glad he did."

While an extra-inning, walk-off win would have drawn a big celebration from most teams, the defending state champion Eagles simply walked out of their dugout and lined up to shake hands.

"I don't want to say we're used to it, but we've won the last four so we know how hard it is to get past here and go on from here," Priggel said. "We know how hard it is from here on out still, so there's nothing to rejoice about too much because we've still got a long ways to go."

Oran will host Cooter in a state sectional on Monday. The start time has not been determined. The Eagles have defeated Cooter on their way to each of the last three Class 1 final fours, including last year when Ressel threw a two-hitter in a 5-1 sectional win.

Ressel, who is perpetually unimpressed with his own performances, described himself as "satisfied" after that win last year. It's a word he uses to convey adequacy rather than contentment. He used the same word Wednesday.

"I was just satisfied," Ressel said. "I feel like we should've hit the ball a little better than we did, so it was closer than we'd all like it to have been, but a win's a win."

Advance00000000--020
Oran00000001--174

WP -- Seth Ressel. LP -- Brian Whitson. 2B -- Chance Tenkhoff (O), Brandon Sokolowski (A). Multiple hits -- Oran: Ben Heuring 2-4.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: