From the top of Tuesday’s game, Van-Far had a hill to climb.

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It was that way for the Indians because of the top of the Elsberry order, namely the 1-3 hitters of Sean Phillips, Ben Dowell and Gavin Woodson. The trio combined to finish 8-for-12 with six doubles, four stolen bases and four RBI to give Van-Far a 9-5 loss at home to its Eastern Missouri Conference foe and three-time reigning district champions.

Elsberry (5-5, 3-0 EMO) brings a lot of talent early in its order as Dowell and Woodson were all-conference players a year ago and Woodson was a Class 3 all-state pitcher. They all scored in the third inning when they each had a double to leadoff the frame and give Elsberry three runs and a 4-1 lead.

“The first time through the lineup, we only gave up one run,” head coach Cameron Huff said. “It’s always tough with good hitters, especially those guys. It’s tough to go through the order second and third time through because you’re going to start giving up hits.”

Huff said those three and even Elsberry’s 1-4 hitters were going to be a challenge for Van-Far (4-6, 2-2 EMO) so he mainly hoped to have his No. 1 pitcher Reece Culwell attack the rest of the order. For the most part, Culwell did that by only allowing four hits to the rest of the order and finished with 11 strikeouts through 6⅓ innings. However, Elsberry collected 11 hits off of him and also stole seven bases off Van-Far pitching.

The struggle with the Elsberry trio didn’t stop after they reached base as four combined stolen bases were swiped by Phillips and Woodson, setting up easier run-scoring opportunities for Elsberry. Culwell only needed to uncork a wild pitch or allow a groundout for Elsberry to tack on to their lead. Huff said after a “series of unfortunate events” the previous night at home during Van-Far’s 19-14 loss to Marion County, he didn’t have all of his players available so some were out of position.

“Garrett Hopke doesn’t catch at the varsity level, and Gibson Condie doesn’t play third at the varsity level,” Huff said. “We just had to scramble around here and there so it is what it is. Ultimately, I’m proud of our boys because, last night, we took a big thump.”

That “big thump” was a nine-run inning to squander an 11-4 lead against Marion County, and Elsberry was in position for some big innings as well. For example, Elsberry had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth inning with the all-stater Woodson coming up. 

With no place to put him, Huff decided to bring Hopke in for one hitter before allowing Culwell to record the final out. Hopke needed just two pitches to induce a popout from Woodson and allow the Indians to breathe a sigh of relief.

“He was teeing off of Reece, as he should (as an all-stater), so I figured let’s change it up and see what we can get,” Huff said. “I wanted to see if maybe something really slow would get his timing off. I was hoping more for a pop up to the outfield or the infield, not a foul ball, but I’ll take it.”

Huff said that’s what Elsberry did to Van-Far’s hitters in the first inning with southpaw Tanner Holland. The slower speed caused the Indians to hit the ball in the air and not score until the one run each in the second and third innings. Once Hopke did his job, Huff said it was back to Culwell since he was only at about 90 pitches, but Hopke would have one more job left to do.

After Elsberry added three insurance runs in the seventh inning, Van-Far responded with three runs in the seventh inning and was threatening for more with two runners on with one out. Carson Huff, who finished 3-for-3 with a RBI double, laced that hit into the outfield in the seventh before Hopke hit a single down the line to score two more runs.

“It’s big, especially when you're in a rally situation to have your guys that have been struggling to get a base hit,” Cameron Huff said.

The freshman Hopke already had a rough night at the plate, taking two called strike threes to strand a combined five runners and stranding two in the first inning after his liner was caught by the shortstop Phillips to end the inning. The called strike three to end the fifth inning happened after Elsberry intentionally walked Huff, who is hitting around .500.

Huff likes what the hit could do for Hopke after his batting average dipped from over .300 through 3-4 games to below .200 since and hopes to have another bat to add to the likes of Carson Huff, and Malik Douglas, who is hitting about .600 following two hits on Tuesday.

“It’s important moving forward because I need his bat hot,” Huff said. “He’s undergoing a little dry spell that we have to figure out. I’m hoping that right there is a confidence boost. He was put in tough situations. As a freshman in certain situations, I’m asking a lot from him, especially when they intentionally walk Carson and put Garrett up to hit. That’s a lot of thoughts running through his head. I’m proud of him.”

Van-Far plays at conference foe Mark Twain (1-5, 0-3 EMO) at 5 p.m. Thursday.