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LENOX – Orient-Macksburg’s season came to an end Tuesday at the hands of Lamoni by a 10-0 final score in five innings in the quarterfinals of the Class 1A District 13 tournament.
Lamoni advances to play Lenox (see accompanying story) Thursday in Lenox.
The Bulldogs were hoping to get out in front early, but the Demons plated two runs with their first three batters and never surrendered the lead.
A one-run double off the bat of Landon Gilliland was muscled out to shallow left field gave the Demons their first run.
O-M starting pitcher Wiley Ray got a groundout before a dropped third strike and a single bought in another run.
After two more runs crossed in the second, the Bulldogs got a big double play on a veteran move by Ray to look the runner back to third before throwing to first. The Lamoni runner decided to try and take home anyway and was caught after Blake Sevier hit Carson Thompson with a perfect throw at the plate.
Ray picked up two quick outs in the third before making the final out at the plate as a Lamoni baserunner tried to take home from second on a wild pitch.
Lamoni plated five of the first six batters it brought to the plate in the fourth inning to take a 9-0 lead before plating the game-ending run in the fifth.
“It was a game that we as a coaching staff thought we could compete in, we were prepared for,” said O-M head coach Drew Dornack. “(The) grass infield. We practiced in the outfield, but you can’t simulate to that extent.”
At the plate, O-M struggled to make contact with Lamoni’s Jaiden Rivera early on as the first four batters all went down via strikeouts.
Derek Gross knocked a one-out single to right field before taking second base on an errant pickoff throw for O-M’s first hit of the ballgame.
In the top of the fourth inning, Blake Thompson led off the inning with a walk but got caught in a double play on a popup bunt.
Ray reached first on an error by the Lamoni shortstop, but Sevier grounded out to the pitcher to end the frame.
“They struck first and took the momentum,” said Dornack. “I thought if we could strike first ... if we could have struck there maybe we could have got some momentum and kept rolling.”
Dornack thought the 4-3 loss to Lamoni on June 7 while at Lamoni was the turning point in the Bulldogs season.
The young Orient-Macksburg team, down on overall numbers, found a way to stay in numerous games this season and fighting to the finish line is a learning point Dornack hopes the team remembers going into the next season.
“It’s a rollercoaster ride and they have improved and I hope they know they’ve improved and when we put a game together we can be dangerous,” said Dornck.
Orient-Macksburg finishes the campaign with a 3-17 record. O-M will lose seniors Blake Sevier, Treyg Webb and Quincey Davis.
Results
Lamoni 10, Orient-Macksburg 0 (5)
R H E
OM 000 00 — 0 2 2
La 220 51 — 10 10 2
OM: Wiley Ray 4K 1BB 1HBP and Carson Thompson. La: Jaiden Rivera 6K 1BB and Landon Gilliland. W — Rivera. L— Ray (2-4). HR — None. 3B —None. 2B — La: Gilliland 1, Curtis Roberts 1. RBI— Bode Dykens 2, Cael Ogier 1, Gilliland 1, Stephen Ansong 1, Zander Reed 1, Roberts 1. Multiple hitters — La: Rivera 2, Ogier 2, Reed 2.