HARTFORD 鈥 The unbeaten and sixth-ranked in state Hartford baseball team cruised to a 9-1 lead after two innings against archrival and visiting Slinger Thursday and then did the thing all coaches hate to see when a team gets a big lead.
"We let the foot off the gas big time," said Orioles鈥 coach Steve Oleshko after Hartford held on for a 9-6 victory. "We come out hot and get a big inning (all nine runs scored in the second) and then we put it in cruise control.
"When you鈥檝e caught a mouse, you just can鈥檛 let it go because there鈥檚 an old saying if you let a dying dog up, he will come back and bite you."
But after making those challenging animal analogies, Oleshko looked at the big picture, as the Orioles improved to 9-0 in North Shore Conference play and 12-0 overall.
"When you can be critical of yourself at 12-0, I guess things are going good," he chuckled.
For versatile Hartford senior Connor Ford, who played right-field, second and even pitched the seventh inning this night, it was just another day鈥檚 work in what has been a sensational season so far for the Orioles.
"We let up a little bit (at the end) but Slinger always plays us tough," he said. "At the end it came down to playing our game."
Ford had two hits, scored twice and knocked in a run in that nine-run second. After getting knocked around a little and allowing two runs in the seventh, he struck out the last batter on three pitches to seal the victory.
"They hit me a few times (in the seventh) and I finally said. 鈥業鈥檓 not putting up with that anymore,鈥" Ford laughed about the closing out.
For first-year Slinger coach Brandon Nelson, whose team fell to 4-4 in North Shore play and 6-4 overall, it was a disappointing loss, but not a discouraging effort.
"It hurts now, but we put up a fight," he said. 'We鈥檝e been working on finding ways to fight back and we showed some grit tonight. It was a nice turn of events after a few of our losses where we just let up."
The Owls did show fight and took the initial lead against the powerhouse Orioles, taking advantage of a single, a walk, a hit batter and an RBI groundout from junior Will Baumhardt to earn a 1-0 lead off of Hartford starter and winner Braycen Burg.
But that lead didn鈥檛 last for long, as in the bottom of the second, the Orioles strung together six hits and took advantage of three walks, a hit batter and an error to score nine runs and knock Slinger starter Jackson Etzel out of the game.
Hartford senior Brandon Pohl gave the Orioles the lead for good with a two-run single down the third base line. That icebreaker was followed by RBI singles from junior Aidan Kolb, Ford, and junior Joe Landgraf, as well as an RBI walk issued to senior RJ Thomae, and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Kaiden Romans as the lead reached an insurmountable 9-1.
Burg backed up that offensive support by setting down the next six Owl batters in a row before departing after the fourth with six strikeouts and two walks.
Oleshko then mixed and matched his bullpen the rest of the way, as Slinger started its comeback. Baumhardt notched a two-run single in the fifth to make it 9-3, while junior Kaleb Burkel boomed an RBI double to center in the sixth to make it 9-4.
The Owls did nick Ford up a little in the sixth junior Jackson Naber knocked in a run with a groundout and freshman Ethan Miller came up with a run-scoring single before Ford got the closing strikeout.
Slinger got a chance at making that comeback because junior Matt Retzlaff, who came in for Etzel in the second, threw a very strong three-plus innings, scattering five hits but otherwise keeping the Owls in the game.
鈥淢att did a great job of giving us a chance,鈥 Nelson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to change the mindset here. The team has been underperforming the last few years and we want to get the kids to believe that they belong.
鈥淎nd battling like we did against a great team like Hartford should open their eyes and show them that they can compete with anyone.鈥
Hartford had 10 hits, all singles, led by Ford鈥檚 three knocks.
Oleshko, whose team will now compete in the Lake Country Lutheran triangular on Saturday, hopes the Orioles will learn from this sometimes-shaky effort.
鈥淲hen a team experiences success like we do, there can be a tendency to let the foot off the gas,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e just want to play good baseball and keep moving in the right direction.鈥
That trend would be just fine with Ford, one of the veterans of Hartford鈥檚 surprising state tourney run of last season.
鈥淭he whole team is ecstatic right now,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e playing out of our minds. And after last season, we want to get back to state and do some damage.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hungry.鈥