In anticipation of forecasted rain throughout the majority of this week, Stoutland Baseball Tournament officials decided to allow Belle’s Tigers to host their pool of the tournament a day early Monday in order to keep the tournament moving.

That proved beneficial for Bryce Gehlert’s Tigers in their tournament opener Monday afternoon against Bourbon’s Warhawks.

Two runs in the first, second and fourth innings proved to be enough offense for the host Tigers as they held on for a 6-4 victory over their Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) opponents from Bourbon.

“It wasn’t the most well-played game but we’ll take a victory any way we can get it,” Gehlert said after his Tiger baseball team gave him a victory in his head-coaching debut.

After Belle starter Isaiah Sullinger pitched around a two-out single in the top of the first inning, the Tiger offense went to work in the bottom half of the frame looking to give him a lead.

Kaiden Robertson led off with a walk before back-to-back singles from Clayton Shockley and Carter Kinkead loaded the bases for Sam Willis.

With two strikes on him, Willis delivered a two-RBI single to right field scoring Robertson and Shockley giving the Tigers an early 2-0 lead after one inning.

Working around a one-out single in the top of the second, Sullinger kept Bourbon off the scoreboard and gave his offense a chance to add to their lead.

Robertson and Shockley both singled before Carter Kinkead drove Robertson in on a RBI single.

Sullinger then helped his own cause reaching on a dropped third strike allowing Shockley to score before the third out was recorded with Belle now leading 4-0 after two innings.

After a scoreless third inning, Bourbon cut Belle’s lead in half to 4-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning.

Robertson and Shockley struck again in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back doubles brining Kinkead to the plate.

Finding the center-field grass, Kinkead drove them both in but was thrown out trying to turn a single into a double.

That hit gave Belle a 6-2 lead after four innings.

Surviving a two-run fifth inning from Bourbon, the host Tigers held on for a season-opening 6-4 victory.

Sullinger needed just 89 pitches to pick up the win while allowing four runs on nine hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Leading 3-1 after two innings against Dixon in their second tournament pool game, Belle saw the Bulldogs score four unanswered runs before falling 5-3 despite outhitting their Highway 28 neighbors to the far west 10-4.

Kale Loughridge and Kinkead led the Tigers with two hits each against Dixon.

Cole Loughridge, Glayden Woodruff and Robertson each scored one run for Belle against Dixon.

Belle’s next scheduled action following the Stoutland Tournament is set for Tuesday, March 29 when they will host the Iberia Rangers with a 5 p.m., first pitch.

Over in Vienna, Cory Nicholson’s Eagles opened their portion of the Stoutland Tournament against Rolla’s JV Bulldogs.

Combining for 32 runs and 41 hits, Vienna’s scoreless frames in the bottom of the fifth and seventh innings came back to hurt them following a 19-13 loss.

Falling behind 3-1 after one inning, Vienna scored four runs in the second and third innings while the JV Bulldogs also matched the Eagles with four runs in their halves of those innings.

Recording three hits apiece for the Eagles were Bayrd Vanscoy, Tanner Bock and Will Veasman.

Also producing multi-hit games for Vienna against Rolla’s JV Bulldogs with two hits each were Eli Hayes, Landon Kloeppel and Duncan Wilkinson.

Vanscoy and Bock both scored three runs while Wilkinson and Vanscoy drove in a team-high three runs each.

Colin John and Hayes both drove in two runs for Vienna who saw their second game Monday against Newburg get suspended due to rain.

Following the Stoutland Tournament, Vienna will return to action on Monday, March 28 hosting St. Elizabeth’s Hornets at 5 p.m.