Vienna goes 2-0, Blair Oaks 1-1 in Saturday's tripleheader

Nolan Hair of Blair Oaks rounds third base during the first inning of Saturday afternoon's game against Vienna at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville.
Nolan Hair of Blair Oaks rounds third base during the first inning of Saturday afternoon's game against Vienna at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville.

WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Saturday's tripleheader at the Falcon Athletic Complex consisted of a pair of blowouts and a one-run ballgame.

The Vienna Eagles were content with playing in both blowouts.

Vienna played just 10 innings of baseball, as the Class 2 No. 9 Eagles won 15-2 against Linn and 12-0 against host Blair Oaks.

"It was a great afternoon," Vienna coach Tyler Shalbot said. "I couldn't be happier with how we played."

Blair Oaks defeated Linn 5-4 in the first game of the tripleheader, which had its start time pushed back an hour to 11 a.m. due to rainy weather.

Vienna opened its second game of the day with a bang against Blair Oaks. On the third pitch of the contest, Logan Agan blasted an opposite-field home run over the right-center field fence to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

"He crushed that baseball," Shalbot said. "He probably hit that about 400 feet. That was a good start, that got them going.

"If we were intimidated at all by Blair Oaks, just being a bigger school, that made them think, 'Oh wait, we can play with these guys a little bit.'"

Vienna managed just one other hit in the top of the first inning but would build a 6-0 lead before Blair Oaks came to bat.

Agan dominated on the mound as well, pitching a one-hitter against the Falcons.

Blair Oaks had runners on second and third base in the bottom of the first, but a line-out double play ended the Falcons' best scoring opportunity of the game.

"After giving up six (runs), we could have gotten back in it and may be get a couple," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "But once that happened, they had all the momentum."

Agan overpowered the Blair Oaks lineup, finishing with nine strikeouts in five innings while allowing three walks. Jacob Stegemann had the Falcons' only hit, a leadoff single in the third inning.

"We knew he was going to be tough, we've heard a lot about him," DeMilia said. " We had some good ABs, we had baserunners almost every inning. But he did a good job. When he needed a strikeout, he got it."

Blair Oaks stranded runners on second and third in the third inning. The Falcons had two more baserunners in the fourth, but Agan struck out the side to escape another jam.

"Logan, he doesn't like people scoring any runs off him," Shalbot said. "He's just one of those kids who pitches better with runners on. He's hard to rattle."

Tyler Robards hit a leadoff triple in the second and scored on Agan's sacrifice fly to make the score 7-0. Vienna added three runs in the third and two more in the fifth to win the game by run-rule.

"I was really pleased with how we had good at-bats," Shalbot said. "We not only hit the ball well one through nine, we just grinded out at-bats, and that's what this team is, a bunch of grinders."

Seven players collected at least one hit for Vienna. Robards finished 2-for-2, adding a single, and Timmy Schwartze went 3-for-3 with three singles. Agan drove in a team-high four runs.

"I thought they swung the bats well," DeMilia said. "What I was impressed with was they were hard to strike out. They put the ball in play and they were finding holes."

Ian Nolph took the loss for the Falcons, allowing seven runs on three hits in 1 innings. Tyler Gish and Gavin Bernskoetter pitched in relief.

In Saturday's first game, Blair Oaks used a four-run third inning to pull ahead of Linn 5-2. The Wildcats scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but Bernskoetter pitched a scoreless seventh to get the save.

"We could have extended that lead a little bit," DeMilia said. " I felt like our guys were trying to hold on rather than just put the game away."

Colton Hoelscher struck out eight batters in six innings to earn the win for Blair Oaks.

Maclaine McCarter led the Falcons with three hits and Bryce Kempker drove in a pair of runs.

Chase Laughlin and Parker Patterson each had two hits for Linn.

In Game 2, Vienna plated five runs in the first inning and put the game away with a six-run fourth inning.

Schwartze finished a home run shy of the cycle for the Eagles and added three RBI. Gavin Stricklan went 3-for-3 and McCrae Fuller finished with two singles. Luke McEnnis, Agan and Dylan Buschmann each drove in two runs.

"I'm very happy with the way we've started," said Shalbot, whose team has outscored opponents 40-3 this season.

Fuller struck out four batters in four innings to earn the win for Vienna (4-0), which hosts Class 1 No. 5 St. Elizabeth on Monday.

Austin McKim had two singles for Linn (0-3), which plays Monday at New Haven.

Blair Oaks (2-3) hosts North Callaway on Monday, the Falcons' sixth straight home game to start the season.