ORAN -- It was the long ball that gave the Oran Eagles an early lift in their last regular season game against the East Prairie Eagles on Thursday, as the blue Eagles pounded out 12 hits on their way past the red Eagles 12-1.

Oran was quickly handed an early advantage when Kody Campbell hit a leadoff home run to center field in the bottom of the first inning. Three batters later, Jayden Pobst knocked a 3-run home run, also to center, bringing in Steven Dooley and Caleb Seyer who had reached on singles just before.

"The wind was blowing in and I really thought we might have a little bit of trouble," Oran head coach Mitch Wood said about the two blasts. "But, those kids hit the ball hard. We've been hitting the ball hard lately."

East Prairie quickly tried to rebound in the next half inning and nearly did.

Conner Scott and Mike Russell each hit singles to leadoff the inning and after a wild pitch by Dooley, both Scott and Russell advanced up one base to threaten the home team.

With two men in scoring position and no outs recorded, Dooley took matters into his own hands by striking out the next three batters to end the threat as well as the inning.

"That s what he does," Wood said about his hurler. "He does a good job."

Oran continued to pound it out by scoring one run in the second inning on an RBI single from Seyer to score Campbell. Three more runs were scored in the third inning on a 2-run triple from Tyler Beardslee to score Pobst and Jake Carter, then Beardslee was brought home by Campbell to give Oran an 8-0 lead after three innings.

The Oran Eagles made a pitching change to start the fourth inning by bringing in Campbell to pitch the remainder of the game.

East Prairie worked the bases loaded against Campbell to start the inning. Then the number six hitter, David Pinzon, was hit by a pitch to score Tyler Whybark from third and get the easy RBI to give East Prairie their only run of the game.

Campbell pitched out of the bases loaded situation by striking out the next batter and then producing a ground ball that the Oran defense turned into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

"Offensively, we just couldn't get the big hit we needed," East Prairie head coach Gary Scott said. "Against a team like Oran, when you get guys in scoring position you got to score and we didn't. We stranded several guys on base.

The blue Eagles were able to plate four more runs in their half of the fourth inning on an RBI double from Alex Chasteen followed by another 2-run hit by Beardslee and then an RBI single from Kody Dirnberger to give Oran the ten runs they needed to end it early.

"We came out and hit the baseball well," Wood said. "Even our outs we hit were some pretty hard outs. I was pleased with the way we hit the baseball."

Dooley pitched a two hitter while he was on his way towards a win for Oran. During three innings of work, Dooley struck out six of the 11 batters he faced while allowing no walks.

Campbell pitched two innings of relief allowing one run on two hits and two walks. He also struck out three.

Ben Hall picked up the loss in four innings of work. Hall gave up 12 runs, eight earned, on 12 hits and five walks. Hall struck out two batters as well.

"I thought he got the ball up in the zone and they teed off on him a little bit," said Scott. "He also made some ' good pitches and we didn t make a few plays behind him. But, he battled out there and gave it all he had. Overall, he did a good job for us."

Next up for both teams is district tournament play which starts on Monday. Oran (18-4) will travel to Leopold to take on the Richland Rebels, while East Prairie (6-11) will go to Charleston to take on the Bluejays.

Oran 17, Hayti 3

HAYTI -- On Wednesday afternoon, the Oran Eagles blasted the Hayti Indians 27-0.

Cody L. Dirnberger (4-1) earned the win, pitching five shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out four.

Alex Daniel had two home runs for Oran while Kody Campbell, Caleb Seyer and Jake Carter all collected three hits. As a team Oran had 19 hits.

Charleston 10, Oran 7

CHARLESTON -- The Oran Eagles completed a game with Charleston on Wednesday night, falling to the Bluejays 10-7 in eight innings.

Oran came into the game trailing 4-2 in the fourth inning and scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game. Charleston responded with three in the top of the eighth to get the win.

Alex Chasteen took the loss for Oran, pitching 4 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on six hits while walking two and striking out three.

Jamie Barber picked up the win after pitching 3 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out three. McClendon recorded the final out with a strike out.

Oran fell to 17-4 with the loss while Charleston improved to 15-8.