The Okmulgee Bulldog varsity baseball team saw their chances for their first win of 2022 slip away this past Saturday afternoon.
The Okmulgee Bulldog varsity baseball team saw their chances for their first win of 2022 slip away this past Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs hosted the Mounds Golden Eagles in a contest that was originally scheduled to take place Friday at Mounds.
Saturday’s contest was not decided in regulation, needing two extra innings before a winner was crowned. The visitors tallied two runs in the top of the ninth to hand the host Bulldogs their 10thstraight loss of the season, 9-7.
Prior to Saturday’s extra-inning setback, the Okmulgee squad traveled to Eufaula last Thursday for a meeting against the Eufaula Ironheads after their scheduled games at Preston on Thursday were canceled for an unknown reason.
At Eufaula, the Bulldogs were unable to get their offense going, coming up on the losing end of a 9-0 defeat.
The Okmulgee squad was scheduled to return to action on Monday with a pair of games at Dewar, battling the host Dewar Dragons and the Strother Yellowjackets in a 3-team showdown.
Next up for the Bulldogs will be this Thursday at home against Depew. The Okmulgee diamond squad will also be at home on Friday, hosting the Eufaula Ironheads. Both home games are scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m. at Morgan Field at Bateman Park in Okmulgee.
In last Thursday’s road meeting with Eufaula, the Bulldogs were limited to just one base hit in the contest - a leadoff single in the third by Brendan McCall.
Other baserunners last Thursday for Okmulgee were Xander Dunn (walk), Austin Burwell (walk), Kaden Ballard (walk), and Tyler Pollard (hit by pitch).
The Bulldogs used three pitchers against Eufaula, beginning with Daylan Callaway, who was saddled with the pitching loss after working the first two and one-third innings, giving up seven runs on three hits with seven walks.
Tyler Pollard took over with one out and two on in the third and allowed two runs on one hit with two walks without recording an out.
Pollard was replaced by Kevin Washington, who entered with the bases loaded and one out. Washington worked the final inning and two-thirds in relief, striking out two and hitting one, while allowing just two hits in his relief appearance.
In Saturday’s extra-inning thriller against Mounds, the Bulldogs got the scoring started with a pair of runs in the home half of the first. After a scoreless second, Mounds took a 6-2 lead after scoring six runs in the top of the third, while the Okmulgee squad cut the deficit in half, 6-4, with two runs in the last half of the inning.
The visitors pushed across a run in the top of the fourth for a 7-4 advantage, while the Bulldogs managed a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings to send the contest the final inning of regulation with Okmulgee trailing by one, 7-6.
After keeping the visitors off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh, the Bulldogs looked to come away with the win in their last at-bat of regulation in the home half of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, Kevin Washington led off inning by reaching base on a hit by pitch. Joseph Robertson followed with a well-placed bunt single to put runners at first and second with no outs.
With Malachi Simmons at the plate, both runners advanced on an error by the Mounds pitcher with Washington scoring the tying run on the miscue.
The defensive miscue allowed the Okmulgee squad to put the winning run just 90 feet away with no outs in the inning.
The winning run was left stranded, as the next three batters were retired to send the game into extra innings with the score knotted at 7-7.
After Mounds went in order in the top of the eighth, the Bulldogs had another chance to win the game in the bottom of the inning.
The Okmulgee squad loaded the bases with threestraight walks to begin the frame. Once again, the Bulldogs failed to produce the winning run, as the next three hitters were retired in order to force a second extra inning.
Mounds plated two runs in the top of the ninth, while the Okmulgee offense was retired in order in the home half of the frame to suffer the heartbreaking 9-7 defeat.
Kaden Ballard was saddled with the pitching loss for Okmulgee, allowing three runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts, three walks, and one hit batter in six innings of relief work.
Ballard took over on the mound at the start of the fourth, entering in relief of Washington, who started on the bump for the Bulldogs and gave up six runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in three innings of work.
Washington was the top hitter for Okmulgee on Saturday, finshing 2 for 4 at the plate with a pair of singles and an RBI.
Robertson also recorded a 2-hit game in the extra-inning setback, finishing 2 for 5 with a pair of singles.
The other three base hits for the Bulldogs against Mounds came on a single by Daylan Callaway, an RBI single by Dustin Dunlap, and an RBI double by Ballard.
Other baserunners on Saturday were Ballard (3 walks), Callaway (3 walks), Dunlap (dropped third strike), Simmons (walk, fielder’s choice), Xander Dunn (walk), and Brendan McCall (2 walks, 2 hit by pitches).
Thursday’s Game
Eufaula 9, Okmulgee 0
Okmulgee: 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 0 - 1 - 0
Eufaula: 0 - 1 - 8 - 0 - x 9 - 6 - 0
WP: Luna
LP: Daylan Callaway
HR: None
Saturday’s Game
Mounds 9, Okmulgee 7; 9 innings
Mounds: 0 - 0 - 6 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 9 - 16 - 2
Okmulgee: 2 - 0 - 2 - 0 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 7 - 7 - 1
WP: Green
LP: Kaden Ballard
HR: None