Regular season home stretch

As Purcell heads into the final regular season stretch head coach Cole Sharp reports his club needs to pick up the pace at the plate.

“Overall we have to start hitting the ball better down the stretch here to give ourselves a chance to succeed,” the coach said.

“We have a busy week having four games this week with three of those district games,” Sharp said.

The Dragons were scheduled to play Bethel Monday and Tuesday and host Ardmore on Thursday for Senior Night.

Purcell will close out the week with a district game Friday with Christian Heritage.

“It is very important for seeding purposes in getting some key wins this week and to advance in the playoffs,” Sharp said.

They picked up a district win last Tuesday on the road when they edged Holdenville 12-11 in eight innings.

Purcell jumped out to an 8-4 lead heading in the bottom of the sixth but gave up five runs in the Holdenville half of the frame.

Purcell pushed across a run in the top of the seventh to force the extra inning. That’s when they scored three in the top of the eighth to hold off the Wolverines.

Seven Dragon errors helped the Wolverine cause. Led by Bryce Blair’s 3-4 outing, Purcell out-hit Holdenville 11-8. Zach Idlett went 2-5.

Carter Goldston had a two-run double in the contest. He finished with three RBI’s and scored twice. Blair had a double and knocked in three base runners. Parker Page tripled in a pair of base runners and reached after getting hit by a pitch. Cole Smedley was hit twice while Goldston and Jett Tyler both were hit by Holdenville pitching.

Deaken got the pitching win. He, Boston Knowles and Drew Kimbrell combined to walk 15 Wolverines in the game. Dobbins stuck out seven.

“ I thought Dobbins came in and did a great job in the situation he was in to finish the game.,” Sharp said. “Parker Page had a clutch two RBI hit in the eighth to take the lead.  It was  a crazy game. We went into extra’s and found a way to get a key district win on the road.  We struggled in the field committing so many errors but overcame that and got a win. That is the main thing in district play. It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to pull it out.”

Purcell opened the Heart of Oklahoma Tournament with a 12-2 run-rule victory over Little Axe.

Idlett led the hitting charts with a 2-3 outing that included a double and an RBI.

Logan Roberts, who picked up the victory on the bump, also had a two-hit day going 2-2 with an RBI. Jett Tyler and Kimbrell had the other two Purcell hits.

“Logan did a great job on the mound,” the coach said. “He controlled the strike zone all day only throwing 46 pitches in five innings of work.

“We played really good defense that game.  I was pleased with the effort overall,” Sharp said.

CCS edged the Dragons in the semifinals, 2-0. Page took the pitching loss going 4 2/3 innings. He was touched for six hits and fanned two.

“ I thought Parker pitched a heck of a game,” Sharp said. “Zach Idlett came in relief for the last two innings. CCS is a good baseball team. They are tied for second in their district. Our bats were pretty quiet for the most of the game. We had opportunities and runners on. We just couldn’t come up with timely hits in the situations we were in.  Defensively I was proud of the guys competing and limiting the mistakes in the field.”

Idlett, Page, Smedley and Goldston had hits in the contest.

On Saturday the Dragons were held to only two hits, one each by Idlett and Page and lost 5-4 to Asher.

“Boston Knowles got the start and loss,” Sharp said. “Deaken Dobbins and Zach Idlett came in in relief. I thought all the pitchers did a great job in throwing strikes and competing on the mound. We pitched by committee against Asher because we have those district games Monday and Tuesday. We need everybody both days,” the coach confirmed. “Again, our bats were quiet.”

Dragon notes:

Zach Idlett was named to the All-Tournament team in the Heart of Oklahoma Tournament.