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Published: March 23, 2008 05:01 pm
Demons split pair in Ardmore
Errors doom Demons against Tigers after run-ruling Noble
By David Miller
The Duncan Banner
ARDMORE —
ARDMORE —It was a tale of two games Friday at the Southern Oklahoma Spring Break Shootout, as the Duncan Demons capped their second consecutive 10-run performance against Noble High, but struggled with fielding in a 9-1 loss to the Ardmore Tigers. The loss to the Tigers evened-up the top of Pool A, where DHS and Ardmore were tied heading into the final day of play.
GAME 1 Duncan 10, Noble 2
The Demons got off to a great start against the Bears, with Jackson Stone leveling off after a shaky first inning to pick up the win.
The frosh righty pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits while fanning three.
Stone struggled in the first frame, walking NHS leadoff man Chad Davidson and hitting Robert Summers, who scored later in the inning. Stone and the Demons rallied, catching Davidson stealing at third and forcing a a fly-out and ground-out.
Stone found his rhythm the rest of the way, scattering four hits over the next four innings.
“Jackson gave us what he always gives us,” DHS head coach Darren Briggs said. “I told him last night that we would have to have a good performance from him, and he gave us that. There was a couple of batters that he got up on 0-2 and 1-2, and ended up walking the them, but he was able to work through it. We went out and talked to him in that first inning, and I told him to let his defense play. He settled down, got his change-up and split-finger going, and was effective.”
Offensively, the Demons were paced by Justin Rucker, who went 3-for-3 and scored two runs. Cody Bennett was 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. DHS took advantage of Noble’s sloppy fielding, and pitcher Jason Wilcox’s erratic pitching to score the bulk of their runs. Errors, wild pitches and passed balls by Noble accounted for eight DHS extra bases and three runs. Duncan scored 10 runs, but did so on nine hits.
“We ran the bases well, and that gets us into good position, but we had eight strikeouts against pitching that we shouldn’t struggle against,” Briggs said. “We also had three errors, and as the competition gets tougher, we won’t be able to get away with those mistakes.”
Despite the miscues, DHS enjoyed its eighth win of the season in style, stealing bases at will and exposing Noble’s inconsistent fielding.
Trent Wilkins led off the game with a walk, got to second on an error and took third on a passed ball before Tyler King brought him in with a triple to deep center. Mark Kendall then brought King home with slow roller to first.
Duncan made it 5-1 in the second when Rucker singled, and similar to Wilkins in the first inning, took second, third and home on passed balls. Wilkins then doubled to left-center, bringing Bryce Davis home, before stealing third and home during Cody Bennett’s at-bat. Wilkins and Bennett each ended the day with three steals. The duo later scored two of DHS’ four runs in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach.
“I’m not sure how many hits we had, but I was just trying to get guys on, move them over and steal more bases,” Briggs said. “That’s kind of how we are. If we can get them on, we will get them over.”
Duncan 10, Noble 2
NHS 101 00x x — 2 6 4
DHS 230 41x x — 10 9 3
NHS — Jason Wilcox, Kidd Gomez (3) and John Boren. DHS — Jackson Stone and Tyler Wilkins. W — Stone. L — Wilcox. 2B — NHS: Wilcox and Robert Summers; DHS: Trent Wilkins and Bryce Davis. 3B — NHS: Cody Hallmark; DHS: Tyler King. HR : None.
GAME 2 Ardmore 9, Duncan 1
The Duncan Demons had their ace on the mound in Tyler King, but errors and miscues led to a 9-1 loss to a scrappy Ardmore Tigers squad that rebounded from Thursday’s loss to Noble.
DHS committed five errors, three of which were directly responsible for four of Ardmore’s nine runs. The loss snapped Duncan’s seven-game win streak.
“You’re not going to win all your ball games, but we certainly didn’t help ourselves in this game,” DHS head coach Darren Briggs said after the game. “We knew we had our ace on the mound, and we kind of sat back thinking it was going to be an easy day. Aces get beat every day, and we didn’t help him out by not swinging the bat or playing solid defense behind him.”
King got through the first two innings by retiring six straight batters, but three errors in the third resulted in three Tiger runs. Brayden Brumley and Micah Quary each reached on errors, and Caleb Avery moved them both into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. King then hit Josiah Custar to load the bases before walking in the first run. DHS third baseman Mark Kendall had a routine ground ball get by him, and as a result, Ardmore scored two more runs. The play would have ended the inning, but DHS went into the top of the fourth with a three-run deficit.
Mark Kendall scored from second off a Bryce Davis single, but it would be the only run the Demons mustered in the game. Ardmore went on to score six more, before the game was called because of the run rule.
“We had a let down, at the plate and in the field,” Briggs said. “That’s a solid team, you can’t just play decent against them. A loss is a loss. The sun is going to come up tomorrow, and we’ve got a game to play.”
DHS faced Edmond Santa Fe on Saturday. Game story will run in Monday’s edition of The Banner.
Ardmore 9, Duncan 1
DHS 000 10x x — 1 6 5
AHS 003 15x x — 9 5 1
DHS — Tyler King, Garrett Shoemake (5) and Tyler Wilkins. AHS — Stanton St. Clair. W — St. Clair. L — King. 2B — None. 3B — None. HR: None.
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