Lauck’s heroics lead Pirates past Bluejays

It was a fitting end for Perryville baseball. Senior Dane Lauck drove in two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send Perryville to a 4-3 victory over Jefferson R-7 Monday on senior day.
“I’m still in shock,” Perryville coach Donald O’Keefe said after the game, “I can’t even describe what I’m feeling.”
With the Pirates down 3-2 entering their half of the seventh inning, the Pirates needed baserunners and was able to start a rally when Dalton Fritsche singled to left with one out. Waylon Huber and Eli Derickson walked to load the bases to bring up Lauck.
“I was shaking,” Lauck said. “I was just trying to put the ball in play and sometimes good things happen.”
That’s exactly what happened for Lauck, but not in the way he would have expected.
Lauck hit a groundball right back to the pitcher who threw home for the force out, however it was ruled that the catcher was pulled off the plate and his subsequent throw to get Lauck at first was mishandled by the Jefferson fielder, allowing two runs to score.
“That’s not what you dream about when you think about coming up in those situations,” he said. “But it got the job done.”
Along with his heroics at the plate, Lauck dazzled on the mound. The lone senior for Perryville pitched six innings, gave up just two hits, three runs (none earned) with two walks and nine strikeouts.
“My velocity was up and everything was working for me,” he said. “I got some tough calls, but it’s all about working with the umpire and pull through when calls don’t go your way.”
The Pirates started the game well with two runs in the first inning when Ty Peeler drove home Troy O’Keefe and Adam Green, who reached base and advanced into scoring position on a passed based by the Jefferson catcher.

Both teams struggled offensively with six combined hits between the two teams (four for Perryville and two for Perryville). Many of the runs came from miscues in the field from both teams.
That was the case for the Jefferson offense as they took advantage of two errors in the third inning to score twice and tie the game. Both offenses fell silent for several innings until the sixth inning when Jefferson designated hitter Sam Stokes hit a leadoff triple. Stokes accounted for the only two hits by the Bluejays all game.
However, that hit would not amount to anything as Try O’Keefe doubled the runner off third after he caught a hard line drive by the next batter.
Miscues allowed Jefferson to take the lead. An error at second base allowed the Bluejays to get a runner on to kick off the inning and subsequently chased Lauck from the game. O’Keefe came in relief, but walked the first batter he faced to put runners on first and second, and struck out the next.
The next play did not go the way the Pirates would have liked.
O’Keefe tried to pick off the runner at first and got him in a run down. The man on second attempted to go to third, and while attempting to tag him out, the ball was dropped. And runners were safe at second and third.
James Heberlie drove a run home with a sacrifice bunt to give Jefferson a 3-2 lead. One they would not hang onto for long.
O’Keefe felt like his team has shown growth over the course of the season.
“We made mistakes and pushed through them and move onto the next play,” O’Keefe said. “We fought back and I think past teams would have folded there and lost. I think we are starting to turn Perryville baseball around.”