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Getting by
Oran slips past Leopold, 6-3
ORAN -- Just two games in, Oran head coach Mitch Wood can tell his team isn't as sharp as he'd like them to be.
The Eagles' run in the Class 2 basketball playoffs may play some part in that, but the Eagles picked up their second win of the season Monday.
Oran did just enough to defeat Leopold 6-3 at Oran High School behind the winning efforts of starting pitcher Dalton Elfrink, who is now 2-0 on the mound.
"We're just kind of living right, I guess, right now," Wood said. "We're not playing that well, but hopefully since we got a little bit of a late start to the season we'll get better. It's going to take some adjustments, but we've got a long way to go."
The Eagles (2-0) banged out seven hits, two from Seth Ressell, and took advantage of five Leopold fielding errors to scratch out the win.
Down 2-1 in the bottom of the third, Oran plated four runs due in large part to two errors in Leopold's outfield.
Dalton Elfrink began the inning with a double. He eventually tied the game on two wild pitches by Leopold starter Joe Elfrink. A single and an error during Blake Carlyle's at-bat led to Kody Moore scoring giving Oran their first lead of the game, 3-2.
"Any time you make five errors and a few mental mistakes, it leaves you fighting all the way through," Leopold coach James Lewis said. "You've got to be able to make those plays earlier in the game to get you out of those situations."
Both Carlyle and Trenton Hency scored later in the inning on a passed ball and Leopold's second error of the frame, giving the Eagles a 5-2 edge.
"I thought we did a good job as far as base running and doing things right there," Wood said about their third inning. "
With Oran ahead their starter, Dalton Elfrink, kept the lead intact. He went five innings allowing two runs on two hits and four walks, He also struck out eight.
Oran's hurler suffered from a few deep pitching counts and a few two-strike hits that kept the pitcher on the hill longer than intended.
"Last year he really struggled with that and hopefully he can come out of that," said Wood. "Twice today he had a few 0-2 pitches that were up. Hopefully, he can adjust to that and get better because right now he's struggling a bit with that."
Elfrink's only slip up came in the first inning.
With two outs and two strikes on Leopold's Casey Graham, Elfrink left a pitch up that Graham hammered over the wall in left field for a 2-run home run.
"Those are solid, gold plated. It really gave us the momentum," Lewis said.
Elfrink, who went 1 for 4 at the plate, went on to retire the next six batters he faced -- five of which he struck out -- and allowed just four other base runners in the next four innings.
"We really needed to follow up on Graham's knock," Lewis said. "His hit took some of the wind out of (Oran's) sails a bit. A few more runs here and there may have changed things."
After Oran tacked on one more run in the fifth, the Wildcats (1-2) mustered a small rally in the top of the seventh.
Replacing Elfrink on the mound, Seth Ressell saw his first pitching action of the year beginning in the top of the sixth. Ressell retired the first three batters he saw, but struggled in the seventh to close it out.
After coaxing a fly ball to center for the first out, Ressell walked the next four batters giving Leopold a run and forcing Wood to go to Kody Moore to shut down the threat.
Moore closed the door by striking out the only two batters he faced, earning the save.
"Seth was doing well, but then he just couldn't find the plate," Wood said. "Kody did a good job of shutting it down for us."
Leopold's Joe Elfrink took the loss after five innings of work. He gave up six runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Austin Bucher led Leopold with two hits, which were both singles. The Wildcats had a total of just three hits.
"Hopefully, things will start to turn around for us and we can get better," Wood said. "I can see a lot of positives during our practices right now."
Oran will travel to Dexter today to take on the Bearcats at 4 p.m.
Leopold 200 000 1 -- 3 3 5
Oran 014 010 x -- 6 7 1
WP -- Dalton Elfrink (2-0). LP -- Joe Elfrink. S -- Kody Moore (1). 2B -- (O) Seth Ressell, Dalton Elfrink. HR -- (L) Casey Graham. Multiple hitters -- (L) Austin Bucher 2-2. (O) Ressell 2-4.