SHAWNEE – The Grove Ridgerunners had their 2014 baseball campaign come to an end on Thursday as they fell to the Shawnee Wolves for the second time in as many days, this time by a 5-2 score.
The Wolves (31-5) advanced to the 5A state tournament, where they will take on Guthrie in the quarterfinals. The Ridgerunners finished with a record of 21-16.
Grove fell to the losers bracket on Wednesday with an 18-1 loss to Shawnee after defeating Tulsa Edison 5-3 in their opening game. After Edison eliminated East Central in the fourth and final game on Wednesday, the Ridgerunners and the Eagles met for a second time in the opening game on Thursday. An eight run fifth inning enabled Grove to eliminate the Eagles with a 12-3 defeat.
The Eagles (16-21) took the early lead in Thursday’s game, opening the contest with three straight hits off Grove starter Cordale Barton, including a two-run double down the left field line by Dustin Engel.
Barton settled things down and got out of the inning and got a run back for the Ridgerunners in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly to drive in Jake Spychalski and make it 2-1.
Grove took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth. Scottie Spicer and Kyle Good walked, with Austin Butler getting a base hit to load the bases with one out. A pair of errors on a ground ball hit by Dillon Miller led to all three runs scoring and a 4-2 Grove lead.
Edison got one back in the top of the fifth, but things would fall apart for the Eagles in the bottom of the inning. Spychalski led off the inning with a single, stole second and later scored on the first of three errors Edison would commit in the inning. Three Eagle pitchers added four walks and a hit batter, while the Ridgerunners got five hits to eventually score eight runs and put the game away.
Butler and Good added RBI singles in the inning, while Spychalski hit a bases clearing double to drive in three runs. Ty Phillips finished the carnage with a base hit to drive in Spychalski with the final margin.
The win advanced the Ridgerunners to another matchup with Shawnee. This time it would be Grove grabbing the early momentum when Brent Hall drove in Phillips and Spychalski with a base hit in the top of the first for the early 2-0 lead.
Shawnee took advantage of early wildness from Barton, who issued three walks and a pair of wild pitches, the second one scoring A.J. Barron to make it 2-1.
The Wolves tied the score with a base hit by Jake Taylor in the third inning then took the lead when Barron drove in a run with a single in the fifth.
The Ridgerunners, meanwhile, could not solve Shawnee starter Tanner Sparks, who allowed just two walks over the next four inning and worked around singles by Spychalski and Barton in the sixth and a pair of baserunners in the seventh to keep Grove off the scoreboard.
The Wolves got two more runs in the sixth off Spychalski for the final margin.
Spychalski led Grove with five hits on the day.
