Published: April 25, 2008 11:19 am            

Tigers split with Dawgs

By PORKY FALCON

Sports Writer

The battle for the District title will continue between the Talihina Golden Tigers and the Savanna Bulldogs.

It was a defensive fight Thursday afternoon for the two teams. The 3-2 victory went to the Tigers in the first of two games. In the second game of the evening, both teams swung the bat in a 15-13 contest, that brought the Dawgs the victory.

The race is even, one to one — with talent in both dugouts as they move to the final game today.

In game one, the Tigers faced Savanna’s Taylor McBane, who struck out eight batters, allowed four hits, and walked two — hitting two.

“We knew it would be tough going in to play Savanna,” said Talihina head coach Jon Bradberry. “ When coach Stone throws McBane, we knew he was going to be tough to hit and get anything out of him.”

Both defenses did not allow a run to score until the seventh inning.

The Bulldogs center fielder Ronald Green started out the seventh inning, after hitting the ball to the Tigers pitcher Jerad Hubbord. Hubbord fumbled the ball and tried to throw out Green, but Green was quick to first and outran the throw.

Green was aggressive on the bases. He stole second base, after a bad throw, he stole third base. Green chalked up the first run of the ball game to give the Bulldogs the lead 1-0 in the seventh inning.

The Golden Tigers had some golden fielders, starting six freshman, which included shortstop Jordan Eagleroad.

Eagleroad played the field with veteran experience — at one point made a diving play down the middle of second base to throw out a Savanna base runner at second base. Eagleroad and second baseman Taggart Lockart got the third out, that ended the seventh inning before the Dawgs could get another run in.

At the end of the first game, the Tigers had two runners on base, with no one out. The Dawgs intentionally walked Eagleroad and loaded up the bases with the score tied 2-2.

With the bases loaded, McBane hit the Tigers right fielder Heath Curley with a pitch and sent him to first base. That allowed the Tigers to win the game. Second baseman Taylor Hubbord came in for the winning run, to close out the first game 3-2.

“It was a tough ball game, starting six freshman,” said Bradberry. “There were some crazy mistakes and think they shouldn’t do that.

“We expect so much out of them, then I look at them, and realize again, that they are all still young. Sometimes it is good to be good, but it’s great to be lucky.”

The second game was all about pitcher selection. The 11-12 Bulldogs tied the District championships by winning the ball game 15-13.

The Bulldogs pitched five different pitchers to get the win against the Tigers.

“I thought we did a real good job offensively,” said Savanna head coach Mike Stone. “We were patient at the plate, we were swinging at pitches that we could handle.

“We tried to make the pitchers go longer counts and to get more pitches in.”

The Bulldogs will have all the but one pitcher come back for today’s match-up against the Tigers. Because McBane pitched a full seven-inning game (eight innings) he won’t be eligible to pitch in the championship game today.

With the Talihina ballpark still flooded do to the rain, they will play the final game of the District championship today at 2:30 p.m. at the Crowder baseball diamond.

Contact Porky Falcon at pfalcon@mcalesternews.com

        

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