Sunbelt begins

By Jeremy Higgins

Game on.

And on, and on, and on ...

The 11th Annual Junior Sunbelt Classic baseball tournament is in full swing at Mike Deak Field in McAlester and two locations in Wilburton.

Friday’s action saw a trio of teams go unbeaten, yet another trio fail to notch a win and four teams earn split decisions going 1-1. Missouri, Mississippi and Arizona all got off to strong starts with two wins on opening day of the tournament. Ontario, Canada and Oklahoma’s Blue and Gold teams all put up a goose egg in the win column on the first day while Texas, California, Tennessee and Georgia each won one and lost one.

In Wilburton, Missouri topped Canada 12-8, Arizona downed Texas 8-6, Mississippi needed 11 innings to beat Canada 4-3 and Oklahoma Blue was outscored 31-6 in its two games, losing first to California, 13-4, and then to Texas, 18-2.

At Mike Deak Field in McAlester, Tennessee defeated Georgia 12-3, Georgia regained its composure to win its second game of the day, 3-0 over California, Missouri stayed unbeaten with a 9-6 win over Tennessee and Oklahoma Blue fell short in the two late games.



Arizona 3,

Oklahoma Gold 2

Arizona scored a run in the first, another in the third and one in the bottom of the sixth to hold on for a 3-2 victory over Oklahoma’s Gold team in the next-to-last game of the night in McAlester.

Oklahoma Gold twice tied the game against their opponents from the west, with a run in the third and one in the fourth. Silo’s Cody Stevens singled and scored the first run of the tournament for Oklahoma Gold. Tuttle’s Justin Ebert walked and scored in the fourth for the Oklahoma team to knot the game for the second time since 0-0 but that’s all the scoring Oklahoma Gold would get in the contest.

Arizona’s Jake Hanson and Ty Farney each scored in the winning effort, while teammate Chris Jensen scored the winning-run in the bottom of the sixth.

Matt Summers was credited with the pitching win after coming on in the sixth inning, but most of the day’s work on the mound for Arizona was done by Kyle Lobstein who pitched into the fifth.



Mississippi 5,

Oklahoma Gold 2

Mississippi got its second win on the first day of play behind a solid performance by left-handed pitcher Paxton King. King only gave up three hits in seven complete innings, two which were by McAlester’s Anthony Trevino who started the second game of the day for Oklahoma Gold in right field.

The Oklahoma team got in a hole early in the game and trailed 3-0 after two innings. Mississippi leadoff batter Dalton Kulas reached base and scored after his first two at-bats for the winning team. Michael Rutland scored the other of Mississippi’s first three runs.

Oklahoma Gold didn’t get on the board until the sixth inning when Trevino drove in Washington’s Tyler Hancock with an RBI-single. Trevino later scored Oklahoma Gold’s only other run of the game on a single by Wynnewood’s Chad Pruitt. After six innings of play, Mississippi led 4-2 and added another run in the top of the seventh to make the final margin three runs.

Dove’s Eddie Cervantes and Dover’s Rodney Johnson split the pitching duties for Oklahoma in the loss, giving up 13 hits to the team from Mississippi. King only gave up three hits as he earned the win.

Brad Luna and Jeff Palmer scored a run each in the sixth and seventh innings to secure the win for Mississippi.

For results from Saturday and today’s games, read Monday’s edition of the McAlester News-Capital.

Jeremy Higgins can be reached at sports@mcalesternews.com.

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