Oak Park Deep-Sixes Village Christian : Prep baseball: Eagles rally from 3-0 first-inning deficit in a 1-A quarterfinal.

Oak Park High pitcher Eric Pryor watched helplessly when teammates made two errors and misplayed another ball into a double leading to three unearned runs in the first inning of the Eagles’ Southern Section 1-A Division baseball quarterfinal Friday.

“I was thinking, ‘Here we go again,’ ” said Pryor, who has been victimized by shoddy support in several games.

But the host Eagles (15-9) recovered to give Pryor a 10-5 victory over Village Christian.

“The way we’ve been playing lately, I knew we would come back,” Pryor said.

It did not take long. Sparked by a two-out, three-run double by Eric Kane, Oak Park scored six times in the first. Kane added a two-out, two-run single in the fifth to key a three-run outburst.

“I was very nervous,” Kane said of his first at-bat. “I fought off a few pitches to get to a full count. . . . I haven’t been hitting that well. I’m just thrilled I had a chance to help my team.”

Once he got the lead, Pryor held the Crusaders (13-10) to five hits and two runs over the final six innings to improve to 4-3. Pryor also helped himself at the plate with a run-scoring groundout in the first and a solo home run in the fifth.

Holding a lead was exactly what Village Christian’s pitchers failed to do. Starter Mike Riemer (3-2) gave up two singles, Kane’s double and walked five batters in two-thirds of an inning. Reliever Anthony Orefice got out of the first when Inaki Lazcano was thrown out trying to score on a wild pitch, but Orefice was ripped for four runs and seven hits in the next five innings.

“It’s been the story of our season,” Village Christian Coach Mike Henzie said.

But Henzie added that he was surprised that it was Riemer, “my most consistent pitcher,” who struggled with his control.

Oak Park Coach Mike Bolyog said his Eagles have come to understand that adversity does not guarantee defeat.

“We’ve been able to change that attitude this year,” Bolyog said. “The tougher the situation, the better they are getting used to it.”