On Friday, April 1 Dalton Elfrink pitched his team to a 2-0 victory over the Leopold Wildcats. In that game the junior right-hander went 6 and 2/3 innings striking out 8 and allowed only 2 hits and walked 2 batters. His record improved to 2-0 on the season and the Eagles improved to 4-0.
Five days later, on Wednesday, with Oran leading Scott City 13-3 heading into the bottom of the 7th. Coach Wood called on Elfrink to finish out the game in relief of Kody Moore. How hard can that be, right? Apparently harder than anyone expected. In 1 inning of work, Elfrink gave up 5 runs on 3 hits (2 were home runs). He also walked 3. In fact, it got so bad, the Eagles had a freshman warming up in the bullpen. Finally, the last out was recorded on a nice catch by Trent Hency on a pop fly right at first base with the batter running into him.
So you can understand why maybe some weren't real confident when, two day later, Elfrink was named the starter against the Oak Ridge BlueJays and their ace and Mizzou-signee Brett Tho
mas. And maybe that uncertainty intensified just a little bit when Dalton walked the first batter he faced after getting ahead 0-2. Another walk in the 2nd inning also gave the 'Jays a baserunner. But in the 3rd, 4th & 5th innings the Eagles' hurler set down Oak Ridge in order. In fact, he retired 12 in a row. It was not until the 6th inning that the BlueJays were able to collect their first hit of the game, a single to left field by Jake LeGrand.
Unfortunately, Thomas matched Elfrink's performance, and both teams were scoreless heading into the 8th inning.
Oak Ridge brought in a relief pitcher for the final inning. Tyler Heuring flied out. Freshman phenom Seth Ressel, pinch hit for Trent Hency, and singled to right field. On the 2nd pitch to Dylan Dannenmueller, Ressel stole 2nd base. On the next, Dannenmueller was hit by the pitch, putting runners on first and second. Kody Moore walked to load the bases with one out. After a conference on the mound, the first pitch to Zac Chasteen, sailed past the catcher to allow Ressel to easily score the winning run from third.
On the day, Elfrink went 8 innings, allowed 1 hit and 3 walks while striking out 8. On the season Elfrink is now 3-0 leading the team in wins and innings pitched (20 2/3).
The Eagles are scheduled to play more BlueJays today, weather permitting, in Charleston at 5pm.
*****Oran vs. Charleston has been rescheduled for Monday, April 25th @ 6pm.
