The Antlers take game one of the home-and-home series against the Huskies
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Edmond North's Paxton McClain up to bat with Deer Creek's Shane Smith catching. Monday, April 16. Taken by George McCormick.
The Edmond North Huskies and Deer Creek Antlers had to endure the full force of Oklahoma wind Monday night.
Forty mile-per-hour gusts took many hats off of heads and lifted plenty of dirt in the Edmond rivals’ series opener at Edmond North High School. That didn’t stop Deer Creek from leaving the Huskies’ domain with the 7-4 victory for their fifth-straight district win.
The Antlers took a 3-0 lead early in the second inning after RBI’s from Mason Phillips and Ashton Hartwig got them on the board. Coach Andrew McGuire’s team hit well despite the 10-strikeout day for Huskies’ pitcher Owen Hall, who was observed by a handful of MLB scouts.
The next two-and-a-half innings saw no scores until a Deer Creek error allowed an Isaac Laus double and an Edmond North run a la Walker Wakeland in the bottom of the fourth. Paxton McClain got another Husky to home plate by sacrificing himself to the Deer Creek infield, making it 3-2, Antlers.
Connor Atkinson extended the Deer Creek lead to 4-2 with an RBI single at the top of the fifth. The left-handed pitcher had himself a day on the bump and at the plate, throwing 85 total pitches for seven strikeouts as well as batting 2-3 with the RBI.
Atkinson would be relieved in the bottom of the sixth after Edmond North tied the ballgame at 4-4 thanks to a Josh Klontz two-RBI double. Senior Chance Baker replaced him on the mound to close out the night.
The two teams headed to extra innings after pushing the seventh, where things got weird during Deer Creek’s at-bats.
Caden Allen gave the Antlers the advantage with an RBI single to put the visitors up 5-4. With one out in the top of the eighth and the bases loaded, Jake Ervin knocked a fastball straight to the shortstop, sending Antler runners to all four plates which the Edmond North defense seemingly snuffed out for a double play.
Both teams began to leave the field toward their dugouts to prepare for the next inning with the Antlers up 6-4. However, the second-base umpire ruled Matthew Gibson safe at second, prompting third-base runner Caden Allen to re-enter the field of play and score another run while the Huskies scrambled to get back into their positions.
Chaos ensued as Huskies’ head coach Matt Allen searched for an explanation from the umpires on how Allen was allowed to continue running to home plate after exiting the diamond. His arguments were unsuccessful as the game resumed with Deer Creek now leading, 7-4.
Edmond North got one runner to third during the final inning, but relief pitcher Rex Dahlgren struck out the last two batters to secure the 7-4 win for Deer Creek to take the first game of the series.
The two teams will play again in game two at Deer Creek before taking the field later this week. Deer Creek welcomes Class 4A Marlow to town on Thursday, April 18, and Edmond North will travel to take on Sand Springs on Friday, April 19.