By Kenton Brooks
SHAWNEE — Brian McClellan and the Fort Gibson Tigers experienced the highest of highs and then the lowest of lows — all in one inning of Friday’s Class 4A semifinal with Weatherford.
When it was all over, the Eagles effectively excused Muskogee County from the tournament with a 4-2 victory that followed Thursday’s 5-1 opening-round win over Hilldale.
McClellan slugged a two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning, putting his team ahead 2-0. Jordan Peacock, the Tigers’ first baseman, singled to lead off the inning and moved to second base on a wild pitch before the homer. It was the first of two singles in the game for Peacock.
“I wanted to get our team started and give us a little momentum,” McClellan said. “I guess I got lucky.”
McClellan’s happiness, however, was short-lived.
He relieved starting pitcher Taylor Richey with one-out in the bottom of the fourth. His wild pitch scored Shane Martin and put the Eagles (37-6), ranked No. 2 in the final Okrankings poll, ahead to stay at 3-2.
Earlier in the same inning, Martin reached base on a fielding error by Tigers second baseman Brandon Jackson scoring Dillon Overton, who had reached on a double. Winning pitcher Jake Tuck (10-3) then scored on Ryan Wilson’s single after moving to third on Jackson’s error to tie the game at 2-2.
“I guess we thought we had it won,” McClellan, a sophomore, said. “I guess we got a little cocky. We didn’t make plays that we should’ve made easily.”
A mini-highlight for McClellan in the inning came when he picked Trevor Beiland off first base after Beiland had walked. A groundout by Devin Renda ended the fourth.
Weatherford, which plays Tuttle (33-8) for the state championship at 5 p.m. today, added another run in the fifth when Overton grounded out to score Jake Barrios. Barrios slapped a one-out triple before Overton came home with the run.
No. 8 Fort Gibson, which lost 4-3 to Weatherford in the state quarterfinals last year, finished the season at 27-9..
“I wish we could quit playing Weatherford,” Fort Gibson coach Randy Smith said. “Maybe they’ll move up another classification.”
Smith said he pulled Richey out of the game when he started getting a little wild on his pitches. Richey had struck out five batters before the fourth inning.
“He wasn’t hitting his spots,” Smith said.
Tuck tossed Weatherford’s second complete game in as many days, striking out four batters. Overton struck out 15 batters in the Eagles’ 5-1 win over Hilldale on Thursday.
Besides McClellan and Peacock, the other Tigers who got hits were Richey’s first-inning single and Robby Nunez’s third-inning single. Nunez was thrown out trying to steal second after he got his single..
McClellan is looking to next year.
“”We’re going to do everything we can to get back here and learn from our mistakes,” he said.
