At the start of the American Legion District 10 playoffs Friday, the Oakville ball club received a bonus as Florissant Post 444 forfeited the game after showing up with less than the required 12 players.

But Oakville failed to take advantage of its gift as it dropped a 17-7 decision to Eureka Saturday. Eureka’s seven unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning ultimately doomed Oakville.

“The second inning did us in,” Oakville head coach Matt Boyer said. “We had seven unearned runs in the second inning and that took the wind out of our sails. There’s a big difference being down 2-0 after the first inning and 9-0 after just two innings.

“You could see the attitude of the team changed after that inning in that everyone was thinking: ‘Here we go again.'”

Oakville starting pitcher Brandon Klump took the loss after giving up 11 runs on nine hits in four innings. But Klump gave up just three earned runs while walking four batters and striking out three.

“Brandon made a couple of mistakes, but he pitched four innings and basically didn’t hang his head and point fingers at everyone else,” Boyer said. “He really gave it everything he could for the team.”

First baseman Alex Roedner put together a two-hit performance against Eureka in which he drove in three runs.

“Over the last two weeks, Alex has been hitting the cover off the ball,” Boyer said. “Since right before the All-Star Game, he’s been hitting the ball hard.”

Oakville third baseman Matt Leise also had a two-hit showing with one RBI.

“Matt’s not having the kind of year that he’s had in the past, but I think that he’s starting to get back to his old self,” Boyer said. “We all thought that the double that he had was going to be a home run, but it bounced off the fence.”