Eagle nine drop 18-15 slug fest at Versailles

By Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 4/27/22

Eight days removed from a 16-1 loss at South Callaway, Cory Nicholson’s Vienna Eagle baseball team was finally able to return to action over the weekend at the California/Versailles Turf War …

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Eagle nine drop 18-15 slug fest at Versailles

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Eight days removed from a 16-1 loss at South Callaway, Cory Nicholson’s Vienna Eagle baseball team was finally able to return to action over the weekend at the California/Versailles Turf War Tournament.

Opening round action Friday saw Vienna matched up against North Callaway’s Thunderbirds.

Down 6-1 entering a do-or-die bottom of the seventh inning, the Eagles rallied for four runs before coming up just short in a 6-5 loss sending them to the consolation side of the bracket Saturday in Versailles.

Scoreless through two innings, Vienna saw North Callaway turn a single, walk and a hit batter into two runs and  2-0 lead.

Retired in order the first two innings, Vienna dashed any hopes of a Thunderbird perfect game with back-to-back walks from Duncan Wilkinson and Lucas Magner with two outs.

An inning-ending fly out kept Vienna’s deficit at 2-0 after three innings.

Still down 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Eli Hayes broke up North Callaway’s bid for a no-hitter with a two-out single before being caught stealing to end the inning.

Now trailing 3-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, the Eagles were finally able to string hits together and turn it into a run.

Lucas Magner started the hit parade with a one-out single before being picked off of first base for the second out of the inning.

Colin John started it up again with a two-out single before consecutive singles by Bayrd Vanscoy, Landon Kloeppel and Hayes led to John scoring and trimming the Thunderbird lead to 3-1 after six innings.

Three hits, a hit batter and an error led to three North Callaway runs in the top of the seventh putting Vienna in a 6-1 hole down to their last three outs.

Spencer Magner started the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk before Zach Via earned a free pass of his own.

Wilkinson then reached on an error allowing Magner to score cutting North Callaway’s lead to 6-2.

John then walked to load the bases for Vanscoy.

Hitting a 1-1 pitch into right-center field, Vanscoy drove in two runs trimming the Eagle deficit to two at 6-4 still with only one out.

Landon Kloeppel then delivered a RBI ground out scoring John pulling Vienna to within a run of forcing extra innings.

A game-ending strikeout stopped Vienna’s seventh-inning rally one run short.

Vanscoy took the tough-luck loss allowing three runs on four hits with four walks and 12 strikeouts.

Hayes and Vanscoy led the Eagle offense with two hits each.

John scored a team-high two runs for Vienna while Spencer Magner, Wilkinson and Via each crossed the plate once for the Eagles against the Thunderbirds.

Saturday morning in the consolation semifinals, Vienna took on Warsaw’s Wildcats.

Trailing 8-5 after five innings, the Eagles were able to scratch across four runs in the top of the sixth inning before holding on for a 9-8 come-from-behind victory.

As the visiting team against Warsaw, Vienna got the first chance to break the scoreless tie.

John started a one-out rally being hit by a pitch before scoring on a Vanscoy RBI double giving the Eagles an early 1-0 lead.

Vanscoy quickly scored when Kloeppel lifted a RBI sacrifice fly to center field doubling the Eagle lead to 2-0.

Answering with two runs in the bottom of the first and three more in the bottom half of the second, Warsaw took a 5-2 lead over Vienna into the third inning.

Similar to the first inning, John led off the top of the third getting hit by another pitch before a Vanscoy walk put two runners on base with one out for Lucas Magner.

Sending the first pitch he saw into the outfield grass, Magner recorded a two-RBI double cutting the Eagle deficit to one at 5-4 after three innings.

In the top of the fourth, Wilkinson started another scoring threat with a one-out single before he crossed the plate on a John RBI single tying the game at 5-5.

Warsaw once again answered with another run in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the fifth for an 8-5 lead after five innings.

Consecutive RBI hits from John, Vanscoy and Kloeppel in the top of the sixth inning helped the Eagles plate four runs before ultimately advancing to the consolation championship game against the host Versailles Tigers.

Dropping an 18-15 slug fest against Versailles, Vienna was led by Spencer Magner with three hits and four RBIs against Tigers.

Lucas Magner and Kloeppel each scored a team-high three runs for Vienna against Versailles.