Titans advance to semifinals; Bomber rally falls just short

By Jon Potts
Special To The Beacon

OWASSO – The Carl Albert Titans and Midwest City Bombers split in the Class 5A baseball state quarterfinals Thursday at Stigall Field.

Carl Albert outlasted the Collinsville Cardinals 6-3 while a late rally from Midwest City came up just in a 6-5 defeat against the Pryor Tigers.

The Titans (31-10) play(ed) Pryor (32-7) Friday morning at 11 in Owasso in the semifinals.  The Bombers, making their first appearance in the state baseball tournament since 2008, finished 20-19.  Collinsville finished 23-14.

CARL ALBERT 6, COLLINSVILLE 3

A strong pitching performance from Mason Avery and a trio of home runs from Beau Davis, Jordan Hawkins, and Jacson Webster lifted the Titans past the Cardinals.

Avery allowed three hits, no earned runs, walked just one and struck out 10 in running his record to 10-0.  Hawkins hit a 3-run homer, his tenth of the season.  Davis and Webster added solo shots.

The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning.  Hawkins got a one-rally started with a single to right field.  Hawkins stole second base and advanced to third after a bunt single from Webster.

Joaquin Golden followed with a fielder’s choice that brought home Hawkins.  The lead then doubled in the top of the fifth when Davis launched over the left field fence with one out.

Carl Albert then scored four times in the seventh inning.  Pinch hitter Jason Pursell got it all started after he was hit by a pitch with one out.  Payton Reid then re-entered for Pursell and moved up a base after Boston Holland walked.

Hawkins then got a hold of one the opposite way that cleared the wall in left field.  Webster followed with a solo shot, also over the left field fence.

That seemed to be more than enough for Avery who had allowed just one hit an five total baserunners through the first six innings.  Collinsville, however, made things interesting in the bottom half of the seventh.

Trenton Foster and Landon Hollenbeck had consecutive 1-out singles.  Blake Vandiver then hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners.

Avery then induced a grounder that seemed destined to end the game, but an error allowed two runs to score for the Cardinals.

Two more errors eventually brought in another run for Collinsville.  Avery however, decided to handle it himself and registered his tenth and final strikeout to seal the deal.

PRYOR 6, MIDWEST CITY 5

The Bombers jumped out quickly, fell behind almost as fast, and then made a furious rally late that eventually came just short.

Midwest City trailed 6-3 after six innings, but used a one-out rally in the top of the seventh, beginning with a solo home run to left field from Terrance Rideau.

Lincoln King and James Washburn then both reached safely on a double and a walk, respectively.  The Tigers committed and error that allowed King to score and Washburn to advance to third base.  Pryor, however, got back to back strikeouts and survived.

Rideau opened the game with an inified hit and then scored on King’s double to center field.  King eventually got the second run of the inning after a straight steal of home plate.

The Tigers, however, scored all six of their runs in the bottom half of the first.  The biggest blow of the frame was a 3-run homer from Dax Thompson that broke a 2-2 tie.

The Bombers got their other run courtesy of an RBI single from from Noah Polston up the middle with two outs in the top of the fourth inning.  Midwest City took advantage of a pair of Pryor errors in the frame.

Bomber starting pitcher Kayden Fixico settled down after a rough first inning and pitched 4 1/3 strong.  Aedan Smith was also solid in 1 2/3 innings of relief, including a key strikeout with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth.

Midwest City was eventually able to carry over that momentum into the seventh inning, but fell just one run short in the end.