Dewar begins 2-day event with loss to Class A No. 6 Sterling

The Dewar Dragon varsity baseball team came away with an even 1-1 record at last weekend’s Wright City Baseball Festival at Wright City High School.

The Dragons (ranked 3rd in Class A) began their festival action last Friday with an 11-3 loss to the Class A No. 6 Sterling Tigers.

The Dewar diamond squad, who began the 2023 campaign with seven-straight wins, got back on the winning track Saturday with a narrow 5-2 win over the host Wright City Lumberjax, who are ranked fifth in Class A.

The Dragons were back in action Tuesday with a trip to Pocola for a showdown with the Pocola Indians before ending the week Thursday-Saturday at the Weleetka Baseball Tournament.

In Friday’s battle with Sterling, the Dragons were limited to three runs on one hit in five at-bats.

The Dewar squad opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the first for an early 2-0 advantage.

Sterling cut the Dewar lead in half, 2-1, with a run in the bottom of the third, while the Dragons regained their 2-run lead (3-1) with a run in the top of the fourth.

Sterling knotted the score at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth, then plated eight runs in the bottom of the fifth to hand Dewar its first loss of the season, 11-3.

The lone base hit for the Dragons against Sterling came on an RBI single by Christian Cargola.

Ashton Hawkins was saddled with the pitching loss for Dewar, allowing three runs on one hit with one walk and one hit batter in his relief appearance at the start of the fifth inning.

Jonathan Wilson took over for Hawkins in the fifth, entering with two on and no outs and a 2-0 count, allowing two runs on no hits with two walks.

Wilson gave way to Skelly Taylor with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth. Taylor gave up three runs on five hits with one walk in his one-third of an inning of relief work.

Aiden Tomlinson got the start on the mound for the Dragons last Friday, allowing three runs on one hit with six strikeouts and seven walks in three and onethird innings of work.

Zack Mullen took over for Tomlinson with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, striking out the two batters he faced in his relief appearance.

In Saturday’s showdown with Wright City, the Dragons opened the scoring with three runs in the top of the second, then added two more in the third for a 5-0 advantage.

Wright City broke onto the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the third. The host Lumberjax made it a 5-2 contest with a run in the last of the fifth, while neither team managed any runs in the final two innings of regulation to award the Dewar Dragons with the 5-2 victory.

Zack Mullen earned the pitching win for Dewar, allowing two runs on two hits with 11 strikeouts, two walks, and one hit batter in six innings of work.

Kase Griffin worked a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh to earn the save, striking out two of the three batters he faced.

The Dragons were held to just four hits in the win. The four Dewar base hits against Wright City came on singles by Mullen and Jonathan Wilson, a 2-run single by Skelly Taylor, and a 2-run double by Aiden Tomlinson.

--- Wright City Festival Friday’s Game

Sterling 11, Dewar 3

Dewar:2-0-0-1-0 3-1-2 Sterling:0-0-1-2-8 11-5-1 WP: Tucker Hughes LP: Ashton Hawkins HR: None --- Saturday’s Game

Dewar 5, Wright City 2

Dewar: 0-3-2-0-0-0-0 5-4-3 WrightCity:0-0-1-0-1-0-0 2-2-1 WP: Zack Mullen LP: Deacon McKeever SV: Kase Griffin HR: None