WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks senior class fittingly led the way on Senior Night.
The Falcons' seniors drove in nine runs and collected four consecutive hits in a five-run fourth inning Thursday at the Falcon Athletic Complex. Blair Oaks clinched at least a share of the Tri-County Conference title with a 10-0 win in six innings against the School of the Osage Indians.
"They played well, every one of them," Blair Oaks coach Travis Henke said of his seniors.
The Falcons started eight of their nine seniors in their final home game of the season. Mason Gipe did not play due to a right knee injury.
Garrett Welschmeyer helped put the game out of reach in the fourth inning, smashing a three-run home run to right-center field to make the score 7-0.
Welschmeyer, who suffered a right ACL injury late in the football season but returned in time for the start of the baseball season, leads Blair Oaks with three home runs this season. He went 3-for-3, adding a pair of RBI singles to finish with five RBI.
"Whenever I tore my ACL in football, I didn't really think I would have the opportunity to even play an inning this season," Welschmeyer said. "I worked really hard in the offseason and I'm just glad to play with all my friends."
Scott Farley, a senior who was inserted into the starting lineup Thursday, had RBI singles in the third and fourth innings. His second hit just stayed fair down the right-field line to extend the Blair Oaks lead to eight runs.
"Unfortunately, he hasn't had the playing time that he's wanted this year with the nine seniors that we have," Henke said. "He came out, swung the bat well and he had a few good hits there."
Blair Oaks added a run in the fifth inning and loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth with two outs. Ryan Paschal lifted a fly ball to deep center field, but the ball was dropped and Nolan Hair scored easily from third base to end the game by run rule.
Jason Rackers went 2-for-3 with one single, one double and one RBI, while Hair also finished with a single and a double. Paschal had a single and an RBI.
The night may have belonged to the Blair Oaks seniors, but freshman Kamron Morriss shined in his varsity pitching debut, throwing a two-hit shutout. He allowed just two hits and one walk in six innings and added four strikeouts, delivering just 60 pitches to get the win.
"He came out and threw strikes," Henke said. "That's all we asked him to do, is come out and throw strikes."
With three pitchers unavailable to throw Thursday due to pitch-count restrictions, Blair Oaks was in desperate need of some help on the mound. Morriss' gem allows the Falcons to save their pitching for two games Saturday and another game Monday.
"Our pitching has done well all year," Henke said. "You have to tip your cap to that. Right now, we're not scoring a lot of runs - besides tonight - and it's putting pressure on our defense and pitching, but I think they're capable of doing it."
The defense helped keep Morriss' shutout intact in the top of the fifth. First baseman Jason Rackers ranged far to his right on a ground ball and flipped to Morriss, who won a footrace against the batter to the bag to get the first out of the inning.
With a runner on second later in the inning, second baseman Ethan Rackers ventured into shallow right field and made the catch for the third out.
"That was a great play by Ethan, going with an over-the-shoulder catch to save the shutout," Henke said.
Trey Rassenfoss and Dalton Depee each had a single for Osage (4-11, 0-6 Tri-County).
After the game, Blair Oaks honored seniors Ethan Rackers, Thomas Verslues, Paschal, Tyler Swehla, Brenden Brown, Jason Rackers, Farley, Gipe and Welschmeyer.
Blair Oaks (14-8, 6-0 Tri-County) will play two games Saturday at Centralia, facing the Panthers at 9 a.m. and Kirksville at 1:30 p.m.
In the JV game, Blair Oaks won 12-2 to improve to 8-6-1. Seth DeWesplore had two doubles and four RBI and Jacob Stegemann had one double and three RBI to lead the Falcons.