Finding outs at the top of Elsberry's lineup was a tall order for Van-Far on Tuesday.
Van-Far lost 9-5 at home to its Eastern Missouri Conference foe and three-time reigning district champions after Elsberry's 1-3 hitters of Sean Phillips, Ben Dowell and Gavin Woodson combined to go 8-for-12 with six doubles, four stolen bases and four RBI. The rest of the Elsberry order had four hits against Reece Culwell and Garrett Hopke.
Culwell struck out 11 through 6 1/3 innings but surrendered 11 hits. Elsberry (5-5, 3-0 EMO) had a 6-2 lead over Van-Far (4-6, 2-2 EMO) after five innings.
Carson Huff finished 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, and a RBI double, and Malik Douglas was 2-for-3. Hopke struck out twice and lined into an inning-ending out prior to his two-RBI single in Van-Far's three-run seventh inning, which also included a Huff RBI double.
Van-Far plays at conference foe Mark Twain (1-5, 0-3 EMO) at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Look for the full story on the Mexico Ledger website on Wednesday.
