By Sean Duncan

SAUGET – O’Fallon right-hander Miles Quintal did everything he could to lead the Panthers to victory in the Prep Baseball Report’s Border War on Friday. But six errors, base-running gaffes and lack of offense spoiled a superb outing, as Marquette scored twice in the eighth inning to upend No. 32 O’Fallon 4-2 at GCS Ballpark.

Quintal, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior, yielded four hits, no earned runs, struck out eight and walked none in 6 2/3 innings. Despite his efforts, Quintal got a no-decision, as coach Jason Portz brought in senior left-hander Seth Wild with two outs in the sixth and the score tied at 2-2.

Marquette opened the eighth inning with consecutive singles by Jake Holtzman and Nolan Komnick, who both eventually scored on Justin Cook’s single to make it 4-2.

“We were very fortunate,” said Marquette coach John Meyer. “Our best guy threw well; their best guy threw well. I’m very pleased how it turned out.”

Andy Bartlett pitched three scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. Starter Matt Meyer allowed five hits and two runs in five innings to match Quintal in the early innings.

O’Fallon (2-3) certainly didn’t help itself. The young Panthers ran into double plays in the first and second innings, stranded a runner on third in the third inning, and left runners on second and third in the fourth. Moreover, O’Fallon officially committed six errors, but that total could’ve been higher.

“We didn’t play the cleanest of games,” Portz said. “With this young group, it is a learning process.”

Through it all, Quintal was unflappable. In the second inning, Marquette loaded the bases with no outs before Quintal buckled down and struck out the next three batters, the first two looking.

“That’s what you expect from him,” Portz said. “He single-handedly kept us in the ballgame. He gave us a good opportunity to win the game.”

Marquette (1-0) scratched across two unearned runs thanks to two errors in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead.

“That’s just the game of baseball,” said Quintal, who is 23-6 in his varsity career. “Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. That’s going to happen in baseball.”

O’Fallon tied the game in the bottom half of the fifth when Cory Beyersdorfer scored on a first-and-third rundown. Matt Meadows had two doubles for O’Fallon and Rob Bohnenstiehl tripled.

Due to rain on Thursday, an extra game has been added to Saturday’s Border War schedule.

Belleville Althoff vs. Festus, 9:30 a.m.

Collinsville vs. CBC, Noon

Belleville West vs. Vianney, 3 p.m.

Granite City vs. Valle Catholic, 6 p.m.