Oglesby blanks Ottawa to win Major League baseball District 20 title

PERU – The Oglesby Major League baseball team was aggressive from the start and continued throughout as it came away with a 10-0 victory over Ottawa American to claim the District 20 Tournament championship Sunday at Bill Burris Field in Peru.

Gavin Stokes was firing on all cylinders from the start for Oglesby.

In the first inning, he only allowed a two-out double from Bryce Ceja.

Oglesby, on the other hand, was looking for its pitches and jumped at its chances.

Brady Blomquist led off the bottom of the first by drawing a walk from Mason Mucci. Stokes followed with a single to left before Johnathan Kamnikar smoked an RBI single to left and ended up on second after an Ottawa error, which also allowed Stokes to score for a 2-0 lead.

Kamnikar made it 3-0 Oglesby on a wild pitch.

“We talked about waiting for our pitches to hit,” Oglesby manager Alec Hueneburg said. “We didn’t want to chase anything and we wanted to put a little pressure on them to throw strikes. I think kids got up there looking to put a charge into it, but we wanted our pitch and put the barrel on the ball and they did that today.”

Evan Lopez reached on an error in the second inning for Ottawa, but that’s all Stokes and Oglesby allowed for the inning.

Kal Fransen singled to center in the bottom half of the second and ended up on third after a pair of wild pitches and later scored to push the Oglesby lead to 4-0.

Logan DeBolt drew a walk for Ottawa in the top of the third, but Stokes picked up two more strikeouts to end the threat.

“Oglesby is a great team,” Ottawa manager Beau Hellman said. “Gavin throws well. We were confident coming in having put the bat on the ball the first time we played them, but they shined tonight in the big game.”

Oglesby put the game out of reach in the bottom of the third with six more runs crossing home plate.

Stokes walked to start the inning and then stole second.

Kamnikar picked up his second RBI of the game with a double past the shortstop for a 5-0 edge. An Ottawa error brought Kamnikar home for a 6-0 lead.

Fransen then picked up an RBI on a single to left that scored Bruno Baker and Bryson Boudreau walked with the bases loaded for an RBI, which made the contest 8-0.

Diku Useini then crushed a triple down the left field line to score two runs, but it was ruled Boudreau failed to touch home plate, which ended the inning with Oglesby leading 10-0.

Martin walked to lead off the top of the fourth, but three straight strikeouts ended the game with Oglesby taking the championship 10-0.

“It was great seeing the entire lineup hitting,” Hueneburg said. “District 20 really supports each other so well. I know having sub state here at this park there will be a lot of fans from all over cheering us on.”

For the game Ceja had the lone Ottawa hit.

Kamnikar and Fransen each had two hits for Oglesby, while Kamnikar and Useini each had two RBIs. Stokes took the win, going four innings and striking out eight.

Oglesby advances to the sectional in Peru, which begins July 15.