Kingsford's Nic Nora delivers a pitch Sunday against St. Clair at Howes Family Field during the Little League Boys Major State Tournament. (Avery Bundgaard/The Daily Press)

GLADSTONE — Jackson Oles’ off-speed pitching presented plenty of problems for the Kingsford Major Boys’ Little League All-Stars (age 11-12) Sunday as they dropped a 7-1 decision to St. Clair at Don Howes Family Field.

Oles took over the mound duties in the second after Riley Juneau hit a leadoff home run to left-centerfield off starter Braylon Essian.

“Their pitcher (Oles) did a pretty good job,” said Kingsford head coach Hank McRoberts. “He used a lot of curves and change-ups and we didn’t adjust real well to that. He kept us on our toes.”

Kingsford, despite the loss, returns to Howes Field to face Birmingham in a quarterfinal game today at 1 EDT. St. Clair was scheduled to meet Bay City Northwest this morning.

On Saturday, Kingsford edged Petoskey 2-1 and St. Clair hammered Centreville 15-0.

Oles, who worked 3 2/3 innings on Sunday, struck out six, walked none and gave up two hits.

“They’ve been impressive at the plate, and I thought maybe Jackson could keep them off-balance,” said St. Clair head coach Matt Karas. “Jackson didn’t even pitch in the district, but we knew he had little bit of a curveball. It had been a while since he has thrown more than a couple pitches.”

Essian struck out the side in the first before giving up the home run, which tied the contest at 1.

St. Clair regained the lead in the fourth when Essian scored on an error.

The downstate squad extended its lead to 4-1 on Eli Loehr’s two-run single to center in the fifth prior to scoring two more runs in the inning. Owen Blank concluded the scoring on a passed ball in the sixth.

“That was a big load off Eli’s shoulders,” Karas said. “He has been getting on base, but hadn’t been getting RBIs. That was a big turning point. Eli’s two-run single set us up for pitching. It was important for us to get the five-run (6-1) lead by the end of the inning.”

St. Clair opened the scoring on Loehr’s single to center in the first before Kingsford tied the score in the second.

Kingsford used five pitchers in the contest and St. Clair sent three to the mound.

“I thought Cole Myllyla pitched well, but we knew we were already in the quarterfinals and wanted to save pitchers,” McRoberts said.

Myllyla, however, took the loss after giving up the go-ahead run. He fanned three, walked one and allowed a hit through two frames.

Kingsford was limited to three hits and retired in order in the final three innings.

Kingsford also committed three errors while St. Clair had none.