WARDSVILLE -- The Blair Oaks Falcons have shown their pitching depth in Tri-County Conference play this season.
It was Jacob Tellman’s turn Tuesday night, as he threw a two-hit shutout to lead the Falcons to an 11-0 victory against the Hallsville Indians at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
“I was a little worried about our pitching, because we were so young and inexperienced,” Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. “We pitched all those seniors last year that we rode (into the postseason), outside of Wil Libbert.
“We had some sophomores come in, some inexperienced juniors, and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. But man, those guys have competed really well.”
Tellman faced the minimum through three innings, as catcher Parker Wilson threw out a Hallsville runner stealing third base in the first inning and picked off another baserunner in the second inning.
Tellman finished with two walks and six strikeouts in a complete-game effort. The only hits for the Indians (10-11, 2-4 Tri-County) were a leadoff single in the first inning by Tyger Cobb and a one-out single in the fourth by Colton Nichols.
“That’s three shutouts in a row by two juniors and a sophomore,” DeMilia said. “That’s pretty good stuff.”
Blair Oaks finished conference play with a 6-1 record. Making that record more impressive is Libbert -- an all-state pitcher and the reigning Tri-County Conference player of the year -- didn’t throw a single pitch in a conference game this season for the Falcons.
Blair Oaks gave up just 13 runs in seven conference games. Seven of those runs were scored by conference champion Southern Boone.
“We can go six or seven guys deep,” DeMilia said. “With the schedule we put together, those guys had to step up, or we were going to have a long year. They’ve just done awesome.”
The Falcons were held scoreless in the first two innings, leaving the bases loaded in the second inning, but they busted the game open with a nine-run third inning.
Wilson, who singled on a perfectly placed bunt in his first plate appearance, lined a two-run single to right field to push the lead to 3-0.
“I was a little concerned we were going to leave a bunch of runners out there again, and he got a two-RBI single that got us going,” DeMilia said. “Once that game became 3-0, it really changed.”
After a run scored on an error, Libbert drew a bases-loaded walk, Reid Dudenhoeffer hit a two-run single to left field on the ninth pitch of his at-bat and Aiden Boeckmann followed with his second RBI single of the inning to make the score 9-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, a pair of pinch hitters sealed the run-rule win for the Falcons.
Cale Willson opened with a line-drive single to left field, then Jordan Wieberg -- normally a courtesy runner for Blair Oaks -- came off the bench and crushed a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a game-ending two-run home run.
“He’s hit a couple balls hard in the last week or two,” DeMilia said. “He hasn’t gotten a ton of playing time, but every time we give him a chance, he’s contributed. We’ll have to consider him for a bigger role on the team.”
Dudenhoeffer, Boeckmann and Wilson each had two singles for the Falcons. Jake Hagner also had a single.
Blair Oaks (19-12), which has won eight in a row, will try for its third straight 20-win season today when it plays St. Francis Borgia (11-9) in Washington. First pitch is at 4 p.m.
“In 2019, we were both state champions,” DeMilia said, “and that was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to schedule them. To play a program like that, with a winning tradition, right before districts will do nothing but prepare us.”
In the JV game, Blair Oaks defeated Hallsville 3-2. Chase Luebbering walked one and struck out three in four innings for the win, while Kaiden Wise drove in the winning run in a three-run fourth inning on an RBI single for the Falcons.