Rockhurst 19, Blair Oaks 3

Any notion of a repeat Capital City Invitational champion quickly went by the wayside.

Blair Oaks, the 2012 tournament winner, fell victim to a 19-3 drubbing in five innings at the hands of Rockhurst in the first round Friday afternoon at Vivion Field.

Rockhurst, the No. 3 team in Class 5, smacked three home runs and put up innings of seven, seven and five while scoring 19 unanswered runs.

Blair Oaks took a 3-0 lead with three runs in the top of the second inning. The Falcons strung together four base hits to do the damage.

Jacob Koelling and Ryan Abbott got things going with one-out singles, Hayden Haney walked to load the bases and Beau Distler added an infield single to make it 1-0. Seth Eskens made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to center field and Derek Otto smacked a single up the middle to make it 3-0.

It was all Rockhurst after that.

The Hawklets scored seven runs in the bottom of the second inning, highlighted by a three-run homer from Trey Vickers that made it 4-3 and a two-run triple from Victor Brancato.

Rockhurst added seven more runs in the third. Logan Gray and Todd Czinger blasted back-to-back homers to spark the outburst. Gray's was a three-run shot.

The Hawklets totaledd five more runs in the fourth. A pair of two-run doubles from Jack Benninghoff and Gray led the way.

Ryan Voss took the loss for Blair Oaks, while Xavier Boerger picked up the win for Rockhurst.