WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Southern Boone offense was in a rut.
The Eagles had mustered just nine hits total in their last three games, which included a one-hitter Monday at Boonville. So Southern Boone coach Brian Ash decided to try a different approach Tuesday against the Blair Oaks Falcons.
It was time for a little small ball.
The Eagles successfully bunted six times, reaching base on three of those attempts, and carried their early momentum to a 7-3 win against Blair Oaks at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"We haven't really had runners on base to create anything," Ash said. "You can try to bunt for a hit and get guys on, but when you're always chasing runs, it's hard to do that."
Southern Boone used two sacrifice bunts in the top of the first inning to move runners into scoring position. The first bunt was followed by an RBI double from Sam Stichnote, and the second was followed by an error that led to another run, putting the Eagles on top 2-0.
"It was important for us to score first with those two runs in the first," Ash said. "I think it loosened us up a little bit. We got guys on and we were able to utilize the small ball."
The Eagles reached base on two more bunt attempts in the second. Carter Karotka reached on a bunt single with two outs, scoring Keegan Maynard to extend the lead to 3-0.
"They out-executed us in every phase of the game," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "They outcoached us, they outplayed us, they outpitched us. They did it all.
"They realized we had a weakness. We practice bunt coverage a lot. I thought we were prepared for it, and obviously we weren't."
Blair Oaks got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the second, as Jacob Stegemann's sacrifice fly to center field scored Parker Bax to make it a 3-1 game. Southern Boone answered in the next inning with an RBI single by Maynard.
The Falcons' best chance at a big inning came in the bottom of the fifth. With runners on first and second, Nolan Hair hit a foul popup behind home plate that dropped to the ground for a foul ball.
Hair made the most of his second chance. After a wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position, Hair singled to left field, scoring Noah Kesel and David Dell. That cut the Southern Boone lead to 4-3.
Hair had three of Blair Oaks' seven hits, all singles.
"Nolan had a good night offensively," DeMilia said. "He makes contact and he's a good two-strike hitter. He's our leadoff guy, and that's the guy we need to make things happen."
Another bright spot for the Falcons was Cole Jungmeyer, who relieved Bax and struck out two while pitching three scoreless innings.
"He fills the zone up, he gives us a chance to win," DeMilia said.
But Stichnote had the top performance of the game, leading the Southern Boone offense by going 4-for-4 at the plate. In the seventh, Stichnote singled to left field on a hit-and-run and scored his third run of the game.
"The thing about Sam is he's a tremendous kid and a tremendous leader, and he just wills everybody to follow his footsteps," Ash said.
The Eagles scored three runs in the seventh to push their lead to four runs. The Falcons put two runners on base in the bottom half, but both were stranded to end the game.
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Blair Oaks, which entered the Class 3 state rankings last week at No. 6.
"I felt like we were in it the whole game," DeMilia said. "The problem is I don't think any of our players believed in it. We haven't been down much this year, and we didn't play with the confidence that we could (come back)."
Tuesday was Ash's first game as a baseball coach at Blair Oaks since he last coached the Falcons in 2009.
"To see some familiar faces, it was neat," said Ash, who is in his first season as head coach at Southern Boone.
Chase Schupp was the winning pitcher for Southern Boone (3-4). In five innings, he allowed three runs on five hits and struck out three.
Blair Oaks (5-2) plays at 5 p.m. Thursday against Hickman to open the Capital City Invitational at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
In Tuesday's JV game, Blair Oaks defeated Southern Boone 14-6 in four innings to improve to 3-1.
III
Blair Oaks announced it will make up last Thursday's Tri-County Conference game against Versailles on April 30. The game was scoreless in the bottom of the first inning when play was suspended due to rain.
The Falcons were originally scheduled to play at Battle that day, but that game has been moved to April 15.