The Eagles gave up three in the first and were looking up the rest of the way, but they had chances. Oran stranded 15 baserunners on the day and was only 3 of 22 with runners' in scoring position.
Trailing 3-0, the Eagles had their first two batters reach in the home half of the first, Jacob Shoemaker singled and Todd Priggel, the starting pitcher, walked. Both moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. The next three struck out, however.
In the second, Dane Shands singled to start things. Dawson Menz moved him over on a sac bunt. Conner Kern made it first and third with a single to right and then with two-down Shoemaker walked to load the bases. But, it was three more stranded.
In the fourth, the Crusaders tacked on a couple of unearned runs to make it 5-0.
The Eagles got on the board in the bottom of the frame but could have had more. Kern walked to lead-off, he was pulled for a pinch-runner, Jake Phillips. Luke Patterson followed with another base on balls. With one-out, Priggel tripled over the head of the center fielder. Kole Simms walked before a pitching change. Ty Johnson reached on an outfield error, allowing Priggel to score. Kaden Hargrove singled to load the bases with one out and Oran trailing 5-3, but the next two struck out to end the rally.
Kern, re-entered the game and took over on the mound in the fifth. He gave up a leadoff walk, that came around to score, as they almost always do. That walk was followed by a single and another walk, before an RBI groundout, a pop out and a strikeout ended the Saxony at-bat.
More wasted chances for the Eagles in the bottom of inning five. Luke Patterson doubled with one out, followed by a Shoemaker walk. With two out, Simms was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Three more stranded.
Saxony plated a pair of unearned runs in the sixth and Oran got one of their own. Hargrove picked up his second single of the day and with one-out Menz was called out on a pitch so far outside the catcher could not get a glove on it. Menz took off for first and the catcher's throw sailed well over the first baseman's head, allowing Hargrove to score from first and Menz reach third.
In the seventh, the visitors' led off with a single, but after the next two were retired, Shoemaker gunned him down at second trying to steal.
In the bottom half, Shoemaker walked for the third time, went to second on a ground out but was stranded there.
Priggel (1-2) took the loss for the Eagles (7-5). He went four innings, gave up five runs, three earned, on six hits. He walked three while striking out seven. Kern went the final three and allowed three runs, only one earned He gave up three hits, walked three and struck out two.
Priggel had the two-RBI triple and Patterson had the double for the only extra-base hits for the Eagles. Priggel also had the only runs driven in.
Coach Joe Bickings had this to say, "Pitching, defense and timely hitting win games. We failed on all three yesterday. Todd struggled early in the first but he did battle to give us four innings and not allowing an earned run the rest of the way. He kept them in check and made good pitches to give us a chance to win. Connor came in and walked too many people but our defense couldn’t make plays when we needed them to. Our hitting wasn’t good at all. We struck out too much, 13 times, and left 15 runners on base. We only get 21 outs in a game and 13 of them we did nothing to put pressure on the defense. We had opportunities to score runs and get back in the game but we always struck out during crunch time. As a hitter, you should want to be in that spot and not shy away from it and also be aggressive in the strike zone. If we score a few runs in the first when we left runners on second & third with less than two outs or the second inning when we left the bases loaded with less than two outs we get momentum back on our side and who knows what could of happened for us. We did show some life late but we dug ourselves too big of a hole. It was not a good day for the Oran Eagles. "
The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to take on conference rival Scott City at 4:30.
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