BEGGS - The Henryetta Golden Knights dropped an 11-3 decision here Tuesday evening to the Preston Pirates. The two county squads met at Golden Demon Park in Beggs, as Preston
BEGGS - The Henryetta Golden Knights dropped an 11- 3 decision here Tuesday evening to the Preston Pirates.
The two county squads met at Golden Demon Park in Beggs, as Preston was also scheduled to battle the Beggs Golden Demons in a regular-season contest on Tuesday.
The run-rule loss to the 2A No. 7 Pirates came following an 18-6 Henryetta win Monday over another county foe, the Okmulgee Bulldogs, in Okmulgee.
The Knights were back in action Thursday, opening up tournament play at the 35th Annual Joe Fowler Gumbo Classic in Dewar.
After the Gumbo Classic, the Henryetta squad will host Okemah Monday, then travel to Weleetka Tuesday. Both contests are slated for a 4:30 p.m. start time.
In Tuesday's county battle with Preston in Beggs, the Knights watched as the Pirates plated five runs in the home half of the first to put the Henryetta squad in an early 5-0 hole after one inning of play.
The Knights cut the deficit to two, 5-3, with three runs in the top of the second. That was as close as Henryetta got to overcoming the early deficit, as Preston pushed across two runs in the bottom of the second, then scored four runs in the last of the sixth to hand the Henreytta squad the 11- 3 defeat.
The Knights were limited to just two base hits in the contest - a 2-run double in the second by Brodie Graffman and a leadoff double by Cameron McKinney in the fourth.
The other baserunners for Henryetta in the county battle were Jared Montgomery (walk), Andrew Morris (walk), Jean Pixler (walk), Ethan Wincle (error), Drew Brown (error), Jerad Fife (error), and Jeremiah Boyles (2 fielder's choices).
Montgomery got the start on the mound for the Knights and was saddled with the pitching loss. Montgomery gave up seven runs on five hits, walking one and hitting a batter in four innings of work.
Brodie Graffman took over in the fifth and worked the next inning and one-third in relief, allowing four runs on three hits with three walks.
Ethan Palmer entered in relief with one out in the sixth and faced two batters in the inning, walking the first hitter and giving up the game-ending base hit.
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Preston 11, Henryetta 3
Henryetta - 0 - 3 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 3 - 2 - 8
Preston - 5 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 4 11 - 9 - 3
Winning Pitcher: Matthew Pittman
Losing Pitcher: Jared Montgomery
Home Runs: None
