Fulton baseball falls on road, loses 11-1 to Blair Oaks

Fulton pitcher Paul Houf delivers to the plate during Monday's game against Blair Oaks at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville.
Fulton pitcher Paul Houf delivers to the plate during Monday's game against Blair Oaks at the Falcon Athletic Complex in Wardsville.

WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Falcons brought plenty of offense to its long-awaited home opener Monday.

The Falcons finished with 12 hits, seven going for extra bases, to power past the Fulton Hornets for an 11-1 win in six innings at the Falcon Athletic Complex.

Blair Oaks scored in every inning but the fifth, leading 10-0 through four innings.

Fulton extended the game an inning in the top of the fifth. David Gibson hit a leadoff double to right field and advanced to third base on a groundout. Josh Dunmire grounded out to the second baseman, scoring Gibson to make the score 10-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, Wil Libbert and Reid Dudenhoeffer hit back-to-back doubles to end the game by run-rule.

Libbert finished with three doubles, while Dudenhoeffer added a pair of singles for a three-hit performance.

Blair Oaks pitchers Josh Isaacs and Gavin Wekenborg limited the Hornets to three hits. Lincoln Smith hit a one-out single in the second off Isaacs, while Allen Walker reached on a infield single off Wekenborg in the sixth.

Paul Houf was the losing pitcher for Fulton. In two-plus innings, he gave up seven runs on eight hits with one strikeout. Smith relieved Houf in the third and limited the damage, holding Blair Oaks' Nos. 5-9 batters hitless in eight plate appearances.

Smith struck out three and walked two in three-plus innings of relief.

Isaacs had five strikeouts in three innings, while Wekenborg fanned four batters in three innings for Class 4 No. 4 Blair Oaks (10-2), which has won its last eight games.

Fulton (2-9) will try to snap its five-game losing streak today in a North Central Missouri Conference game at Moberly.

The Hornets' rainout game last Friday against Hannibal has been rescheduled as part of a varsity-only doubleheader April 22 at Hannibal.

In Monday's JV game, Blair Oaks defeated Fulton 15-0 in three innings.