Bad hops for Falcons in loss to Warsaw

WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Out of the dozens of plays Tuesday night, the baseball game between Blair Oaks and Warsaw was basically decided by two.

Unfortunately for Blair Oaks, both of them went against the Falcons.

The Falcons hit into a bad-luck double play in the top of the first, blunting the possibility of a big inning. Then the Wildcats got the benefit of a bad-hop grounder to avoid a potential double play in the fourth, resulting in the Wildcats taking the lead for good.

The Falcons went on to suffer an 8-3 loss to drop to 6-14 on the season.

"When you're in a rut like we are, it seems like Murphy's Law - whatever can go wrong, will," Blair Oaks coach Harv Antle said. "You've just got to keep fighting."

After Warsaw went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, Blair Oaks appeared to have things rolling when they started the bottom of that inning with consecutive singles by Jordan Hair, Adam Schell and Jacob Wilbers, with Wilbers' pushing across a run.

Brent Heckemeyer then reached on a error to lead the bases for Dylan Hoelscher. He then lined out to the Warsaw third baseman, who took a few short steps to double-off Schell at third.

The next batter struck out to end the inning for the Falcons, leaving them with a 1-0 lead that could have been much bigger.

"There's nothing Schell could do there - that's just a liner that the guy practically catches on the bag," Antle said.

That inning also had a long-term impact. Warsaw pitcher Joey Cooner escaped with little damage and could have been gone early, but he ended up throwing 105 pitches in a complete-game effort.

"That's the sign of a good pitcher," Antle said. "We dealt with him a lot better this year than last year. Last year we didn't even manage a hit off of him.

"... He was wobbling a little bit in the first inning, but he caught a break with the soft liner and the double play. He was able to keep us to a straight number, rather than a crooked number that could have made the difference."

Warsaw tied it at 1 with a run in the bottom of the second, then got the game's biggest hit in the third.

After loading the bases with no outs, a strikeout brought Cory Callahan to the plate. He sent a grounder toward Blair Oaks shortstop Ethan Rackers, who was in perfect position to start a double play before the ball rocketed over his shoulder thanks to a wild hop.

"That's a groundskeeper hop right there," Antle said. "They came in and put I don't know how many tons of sand on the infield, and it's not settling, it's not turned in. So once it gets chewed up a little bit, you get something like that.

"I'm just glad (Rackers) didn't lose any teeth on that."

The Wildcats got a sacrifice fly immediately after that, and the lead was 4-1.

The energized Wildcats then tacked on four runs in the fourth on three hits, one hit batter and one walk, pushing their edge to 8-1.

Blair Oaks, meanwhile, had trouble getting anything going offensively until the seventh, as the Falcons had runners picked off base in the second and fourth innings to slow potential rallies.

In the final frame, the Falcons got RBI singles from Wilbers and Brent Heckemeyer, but couldn't pull off the comeback in a game where they outhit the Wildcats 12-10.

"We hit twice as many balls hard as they did," Antle said. "Everything they flared or duck-snorted out there seemed to drop in. They hit in good luck, we hit in bad luck.

"But there was more good today than bad. We'll go back to work (today) and see if we can't get one on Friday at Hallsville."

Wilbers paced the offense by going 4-for-4 with two RBI in the No. 3 spot, while Heckemeyer was 2-for-4 with one RBI in the cleanup role.

"That's good to see out of both those guys," Antle said. "It's comforting to think we might be able to put a lineup together with the middle of it hitting like that.

"Plus, that's a tough matchup for Brent (against a left-hander). He was able to hang in there, he battled and came through. And Jacob just had solid at-bats. It looked like he had a plan and executed that plan."

Clayton Graessle started and took the loss for the Falcons. He gave up six earned runs in 31/3 innings on seven hits and two walks while striking out two.

Alec Sieg followed and gave up two earned runs in 22/3 innings on three hits and one walk. Austin Herigon pitched the seventh and did not allow a hit while striking out two.

In the JV game, Cole Stockman hurled a four-inning no hitter, and the Falcons topped Warsaw 11-0.

Stockman struck out six and the only two Wildcats to reach did so on hit-by-pitches.

At the plate for Blair Oaks, Herigon had two RBI and scored three times, and Tyler Swehla and Clayton Backes each tagged two hits and scored twice. Blair Oaks had eight hits and drew six walks.