WARDSVILLE - It has been a long two weeks for the Blair Oaks Falcons, and the Boonville Pirates only made it tougher on them.
Boonville, playing its first season in the Tri-County Conference, is now in line for its fourth consecutive conference championship following Tuesday's 8-1 win against Blair Oaks at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"I'm glad they're in our league," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "I want to play these guys every year.
"They beat us today, but I'll be honest, we didn't play bad. They got timely hits when they needed them and their pitcher was good."
Boonville, which won a conference title in its last three seasons in the North Central Missouri Conference, is alone in first place in the Tri-County with a 4-0 record.
For Blair Oaks, it was the team's sixth game in six days. Dating back to the start of the Capital City Invitational, it was the Falcons' 11th game in a 12-day span.
"We've had a tough stretch," said DeMilia, whose team has lost five of its last six games. "We knew these two weeks were going to be really tough. That's what we want, we want to challenge our guys."
The Pirates scored two runs in the top of the first inning Tuesday, benefiting from a double steal and a sacrifice fly.
Boonville had the bases loaded later in the inning, but starting pitcher Parker Bax escaped the jam by getting a 1-2-3 double play.
"If they hit a double there, this game is way different," DeMilia said. "(Bax) settled in and he showed me a lot of heart today and competitiveness."
Bax retired 10 of the next 12 batters he faced, keeping it a two-run game. But with two swings of the bat, Boonville put the game well out of reach.
Saylor Marquez lifted a high fly ball to left field, which was pushed by the wind and cleared the fence for a three-run home run in the fifth.
In the next inning, Trae Williams hooked a three-run home run inside the left-field foul pole to push the Pirates' lead to 8-0.
"The final score was not really indicative of how close the game was," DeMilia said.
Blair Oaks got its lone run off Boonville pitched Connor Barnes in the sixth inning. David Dell hit a leadoff triple and scored on Kamron Morriss' double down the left-field line.
The Falcons had hasnces to chip away at their deficit after a single by Bax, but Barnes escaped damage with a strikeout and two ground-ball outs.
"We had baserunners, we had some opportunities, but he was able to make some good pitches," DeMilia said.
Earlier in the fifth, Boonville left fielder Peyton Keeran made a diving catch down the line to rob Nolan Hair of an RBI extra-base hit.
"That was a great play in left field," DeMilia said. "That's the way it goes."
Bax took the loss, allowing eight runs on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 5 innings. Cade Stockman pitched the remaining 1 innings, retiring four of the five batters he faced and finishing with two strikeouts.
Barnes scattered six hits in six innings to earn the win, walking one and striking out four. Reece Lang had a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh for Boonville.
Williams went 3-for-4 for Boonville (7-7), adding two singles and scoring three runs. Marquez finished with four RBI.
Dell finished with a single and a triple, while Bax had a pair of singles for the Falcons.
Blair Oaks (9-9), ranked No. 3 in Class 3, will wrap up its toughest stretch of the season with a game today at Fatima. The contest was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it was pushed up a day due to the threat of rain.
"We're pushing for the end, we're pushing for May," DeMilia said. "These are the kind of games that will get us ready for that."
In Tuesday's JV game, Blair Oaks won 1-0 against Boonville. Noah Kesel had two hits for the Falcons, while Devin Koelling struck out seven batters in 4 innings.