On an absolutely perfect day for baseball at David Allen Memorial Ballpark, the Enid Plainsmen baseball team rolled their way to within 1 win of a trip to the Oklahoma State tournament for the 2nd year in a row! If the Plainsmen are able to get that 1 win either today or tomorrow, it would be the 1st time the Plainsmen have made back to back state tournaments since 2008-2009!
Game 1 vs. Putnam City North
The Plainsmen despite hosting the Regional were actually the road team in this contest so Enid got to bat first and they wasted no time getting things off and running. Garrett Shull laced the 1st pitch of the game into the gap for a double and Brock Slater would reach on an 7-pitch walk. That was followed up with RBI singles by McCage Hartling and Jake Kennedy and 4 batters in, the Plainsmen had a 2-0 lead. However, they were far from done as Enid would score 3 in the 2nd as McCage Hartling doubled home Brock Slater (who walked), Jake Kennedy got an RBI single in the next at-bat and Cooper Jarnigan reached on an error which scored Kennedy. Garrett Shull would pick up an RBI single in the 3rd to push the lead to 6-0 and that was more than enough for Plainsmen starter Isreal Gonzales. Gonzales was fantastic as he would hold Putnam City North to just 3 hits on the day and allowed just 1 in the 4th inning. The lead was 6-1 going into the 5th and that’s when the Plainsmen had had enough and would put the game out of reach by scoring 8 runs in the 5th capped off by James Humphrey’s 2-run HR to push the lead to 14-1. Isreal would slam the door in the bottom of the 5th to end the game on the run rule and the Plainsmen would advance to the winners bracket and would take on the winner of Jenks vs. Tahlequah which turned out to be Jenks after the Trojans survived an extra innings scare.
Game 2 vs. Jenks
As the top seed in the Regional, the Plainsmen got the advantage of getting some rest in between games 1 and 2 while Jenks had to go from playing a grueling 3 hour extra innings game against Tahlequah to 30 minutes later taking on Enid. Game 2 for the Plainsmen was similar to Game 1 as they were once again the road team so they get to bat first and the Plainsmen took advantage once again. Garrett Shull laced the 1st pitch of the game for a double and Brock Slater would get on with a single and McCage Hartling and Jake Kennedy would each hit sacrifice flies to give the Plainsmen a 2-0 1st inning lead. Jenks, however, responded against Plainsmen ace Jake Kennedy as the Trojans would also get 2 runs and forced Kennedy to throw 36 pitches in 1 inning. The game was tied 2-2 heading to the 3rd and the Plainsmen were sick of that so they decided to do something about it. The first 5 batters in the 3rd inning reached as the Plainsmen would score 5 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 Trojan errors and Enid held a 7-2 lead. The Trojans would get a run back in the bottom of the 3rd on a solo HR but Kennedy would buckle down and hold the Trojans scoreless until the 6th inning. Enid and Jenks would each add 1 run in the 6th and we had an 8-4 game heading into the 7th. But the Plainsmen weren’t done by any means as they would add 4 runs thanks to 4 walks, a wild pitch, and a 2 run single by Garrett Shull to blow the game open 12-4 going into the bottom of the 7th. Cooper Jarnigan would come in and slam the door out of the bullpen on 11 pitches to seal the win and send the Plainsmen to the Regional Championship game.
Next up for the Plainsmen
Now, the stage is set. The Plainsmen will get 2 chances to punch their ticket to the State Tournament. Their 1st chance will be later today at 2:30PM at David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The Plainsmen will take on the winner of the loser’s bracket semifinal in Putnam City North or Jenks. As we just discussed, the Plainsmen have already beaten both teams in this regional and are arguably in the most ideal situation of the remaining 3 teams. The Plainsmen have only used 3 pitchers so it’ll likely be all hands on deck (besides Isreal Gonzales and Jake Kennedy) as head coach Brad Gore will try to get the job done today and not have to worry about tomorrow’s “if necessary” game. However, if the Plainsmen were to lose this afternoon, the will get another shot to punch their ticket tomorrow at DAMB at 2PM. We’ll have the call of Thursday’s game (and Friday’s if necessary) on CTB Sports 1640/1390AM, the CTB Sports App and on enidlive.com.
