WARDSVILLE, Mo. - There wasn't a person at the Falcon Athletic Complex that wanted a hit more than Hayden Haney.
The Blair Oaks senior got his wish.
After committing an error in the top of the ninth, Haney redeemed himself with a walk-off single in the bottom of the frame to give the Falcons a 6-5 win against Fatima on Thursday.
"I knew I had to come through for my team because I made that boot in center field," Haney said. "I knew they were counting on me, and I was struggling the whole game, but I just had to settle down, get my mind right and get the hit."
Fatima scored an unearned run following Haney's error to take a 5-4 lead in the ninth, but Blair Oaks responded in a big way.
Logan Bax led off the bottom of the inning with a triple and Cody Stegeman followed with a sacrifice fly to center to tie it. Brent Heckemeyer singled and advanced to third on an error before Haney put the game away with a shot off the fence in left-center field.
"He had some less-than-stellar at-bats throughout the game and I think that ball just drifted on him a little bit in center," Blair Oaks coach Harv Antle said. "He'll tell you that he should make that play, and he does 99 times out of 100. Nobody in the park felt worse than he did.
"Sometimes that's the way baseball works. It can be a cruel game, but a lot of times it will give you a chance to redeem yourself."
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Blair Oaks, ranked No. 7 in Class 3. It also gave the Falcons the upper hand against Fatima, the defending state champions, in terms of a district seed.
"I think it's huge because the first thing you look at is head-to-head," Antle said. "Regardless of your strength of schedule, regardless of your common opponents, bottom line is it usually comes down to that head-to-head.
"That is big, and if nothing else, it proves to our guys we can beat these guys. They've had our number the last couple times when we've played."
Ryan Wilbers drove in four runs and was a triple away from hitting for the cycle to help lead Blair Oaks (11-2), which trailed early in the contest.
Fatima scored one unearned run in the top of the first and John Fick and Kesel both drove in a run in the third to give Fatima (10-4) a 3-0 lead. Wilbers then connected with a two-run home run on a 2-2 pitch that went over the 365 sign in left-center to bring the Falcons within one in the bottom of the frame.
"I think that took a lot of pressure off of our offense," Antle said. "I think it helped us relax and it got us right back in the ball game. It was a real pick-me-up."
Wilbers, Blair Oak's six-hole hitter, came through again with a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth to give the Falcons a 4-3 cushion, but Fick responded by tallying his second RBI single to tie the game in the top of the sixth.
"It's one of those games that we knew when we stepped off the bus that it was not going to be easy," Fatima coach Scott Kilgore said. "We were prepared for that. I thought it was a great baseball game on both sides. Nobody really laid down."
Collin Luebbering received the win after allowing one unearned run on one hit, striking out two and walking three in the final three innings in relief.
Luebbering walked the first batter he faced in the top of the seventh, but the senior right-hander got out of the inning without allowing any damage.
Cody Stegeman had a helping hand in that. With one out, the Blair Oaks shortstop made a diving stop to his left, stepped on second base and completed the throw to first for the inning-ending double play.
"After that first inning, I calmed down and could feel that my curveball was working good," Luebbering said. "It's also nice having confidence in your defense to help back you up."
Blair Oaks starting pitcher Bryce Pritchett allowed four runs (three earned) on 10 hits and one walk while striking out four in six innings.
"Bryce did a good job to pitch from behind," Antle said. "He kind of kept them there and allowed us to get back in the ball game."
Fatima reliever Sam Hager was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs on five hits in the final four innings.
Reid Kesel started the game for the Comets, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out three in five innings.
"I told my kids, "Don't you dare hang your heads for one second,'" Kilgore said. "You know you're going to walk away either winning or losing. Unfortunately, we walked away with the latter, but I was very pleased with them."
Bax and Heckemeyer were both 3-for-4, while Logan Gratz added two hits to help lead the Falcons, who stranded eight baserunners and committed two errors.
Kesel was 3-for-5 with an RBI, Fick was 2-for-4 with two RBI and Zach Hudspeth added two hits to help lead Fatima, which also committed two errors and left nine baserunners stranded.
The Comets will host Fulton for a non-conference matchup Monday.
"Our key right now is how we bounce back from a loss like that," Kilgore said. "We've got a very good Fulton team coming up on Monday. They're playing really good baseball right now, so we're just going to try and prepare ourselves for the rest of the season."
Blair Oaks will play Hickman in the opening round of the Columbia Tournament at 7:30 p.m. today at Hickman.
After losing their first two games of the season on the same day last week, the Falcons hope to be back on the right track.
"To get a win and to come from behind and eventually end it in walk-off fashion, hopefully that kind of settles us down a little bit and restores our confidence," Antle said.
In the JV game, Blair Oaks was a 5-3 winner. Jacob Wilbers was the winning pitcher for the Falcons (4-1).