WARDSVILLE, Mo. - It wasn't the start the Blair Oaks Falcons were looking to have Tuesday against the North Callaway Thunderbirds.
A leadoff single, an error and an RBI double already had the Falcons down 1-0, and not an out had been recorded.
"I was thinking, 'Oh, my Lord,'" Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said.
Blair Oaks pitcher Colton Hoelscher retired the next three batters he faced and did not allow another run, as the Falcons bounced back to beat the Thunderbirds 6-1 at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"When you're the home team, it's important to get that zero," DeMilia said. " After giving up a lot of runs last night (at Fulton), it wasn't a good feeling, but Colton made an adjustment. They were a good, fastball-hitting team and he threw a few more changeups."
Hoelscher escaped the first-inning jam with runners on second and third base with no outs by getting a strikeout, an infield pop-up and another strikeout.
Blair Oaks took the lead for good in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of three North Callaway errors in the inning. Nolan Hair tied the game at 1, scoring on the third error of the inning, and Jacob Stegemann singled home Bryce Kempker to put the Falcons ahead 2-1.
North Callaway's defense committed six errors, leading to five unearned runs.
"It wasn't one of those things where we hit the ball all over the yard," DeMilia said. "We did get a couple of good swings, but we put the ball in play and ran the bases well."
The Falcons scored another run on an error in the third and Gavin Bernskoetter had an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-1.
Blair Oaks tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Cameron Hardwick singled to score Kamron Morriss, then Ian Nolph blasted a double into right-center field, scoring Kempker to give the Falcons a five-run lead.
"We got some timely hits, finally," DeMilia said. "We had been leaving a lot of guys on base."
The Falcons finished with seven hits. Morris had a single and a double, while Stegemann collected a pair of singles.
"We used a few hit-and-runs to put pressure on them," DeMilia said. "It proved the fact that we don't have to go and bang out 10 hits to score runs, and that was nice."
North Callaway only had one player reach third base after the first inning. The Thunderbirds had runners on the corners with two outs in the third, but Hoelscher tagged the runner from third at the plate attempting to score on a wild pitch to end the threat.
"That was a big play, but that was another inning that could've turned bad after making an error," DeMilia said.
Hoelscher finished with nine strikeouts, allowing just four hits and one walk. More importantly, with Tuesday's contest being the Falcons' sixth game in six days, his complete-game effort saved the team's pitching staff, which will have to go through five games in a three-day stretch this weekend at the Columbia Tournament.
"It would've been nice to have him in the tournament, but at the end of the day, we needed a win," DeMilia said of Hoelscher. "He was cruising. He was pitching so well, we wanted to roll with it.
"He saved us some pitching this weekend. We'll have every arm (except his) available at some point."
Blair Oaks (5-7) opens the tournament Thursday with games at 4 p.m. at Battle and at 6:30 p.m. at Rock Bridge. The Falcons will conclude pool play at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Hickman.