Class 4A Oklahoma bi-district baseball: 3-homer day for Dax Collins helps Poteau power past Miami to sweep series

By Buck Ringgold

POTEAU — In the first two innings of Poteau's Class 4A bi-district playoff, the Pirates weren't able to produce runs. 

The Pirates left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first and stranded two more runners an inning later.

But in the third inning, the Pirates had no problem bringing in runners. Seven, as a matter of fact.

That enabled Poteau to break open what had been a scoreless game. The Pirates went on to a 12-0 win in the opening game Thursday at Town Creek Park.

Poteau continued to pile on the runs in the second game as the Pirates swept the series with a 20-1 win.

The Pirates (15-17) entered Thursday's bi-district round with a sub .500 record, though they did finish third in District 4A-8, enabling them to host the series. Poteau also moved to 10-5 this season against fellow 4A competition.

And with the start of postseason play Thursday, first-year Poteau coach Ryan Dill emphasized to his team it was a brand-new season.

"Altogether, we have had kind of a rough, up and down season because we are young and we have had a lot of injuries," Dill said. "And we've played a tough schedule, so it has been a rough season. ... We did finish 8-4 in district, which gets us a third-place spot, so I feel like we did really, really good there.

"We constantly talk about how important the district games are and the playoffs more than anything else. We kind of put an emphasis on (Thursday) was a new season, but we showed up like that; we showed up and showed out a little bit (Thursday)."

The Pirates will move on to next week's 4A regional round in Pryor. Poteau is bidding to go to the state tournament for the sixth consecutive time.

"There's definitely some pressure in prolonging the (state tournament) streak," said senior Ben Brooks, who tossed a one-hit shutout in Thursday's opener. "But we've just got to go out and perform like we did (Thursday) and throw strikes and make plays and hit the ball, and hopefully we can make it to state again."

For the first two innings, Miami pitcher Karson Jinks threw some clutch pitches to get out of jams. He kept Poteau scoreless as the Pirates left five men on base.

It was a drastically different story in the bottom of the third.

Brooks, the leadoff batter, drew a walk. He then broke for second when the next batter, Caden Fox, launched a double up the alley in right center, and Brooks was able to come around and score Poteau's elusive first run.

The Pirates didn't stop there.

With two out and two on, Logan Walker - the nine-hole hitter in the lineup - doubled to left to bring those two runners home. Dax Collins and Kord Fenton followed with an RBI double and RBI single, respectively, for a 5-0 lead.

Poteau went on to score two more runs in the third to make it 7-0.

Then in the fourth, the Pirates kept scoring, beginning when Collins stepped up with the bases loaded and unleashed a grand slam well over the wall in left center.

Poteau got its final run on a sacrifice fly from Brooks.

Brooks went on to pitch a five-inning shutout. He took a no-hitter into the top of the fifth, but it was broken up on a one-out double from Jonas Neece after the previous batter reached on an error.

That put the Wardogs with runners on second and third. But Brooks got out of further trouble by striking out the next two batters to end the game.

Brooks finished with nine strikeouts.

"I was just going to go out there and throw strikes, and change them up a little bit with the off-speed stuff," Brooks said. "The fastball was working, the fastball was getting in there pretty good, and I threw them off a little bit there with some off-speed.

"I just kept going out there and just kept getting it done."

Fox went 3-for-3, while Collins and Kord Fenton each went 3-for-4. Collins also doubled and finished with five RBIs.

Poteau 20, Miami 1

GAME 2 - Collins' grand slam in the opening game was just the beginning of his day.

The sophomore hit two more homers in the nightcap, and ended up going 4-for-4 while adding a double and driving in three runs.

Collins hit the game's first pitch into left field for a single and eventually scored, as Poteau went up 2-0 in the top of the first. An inning later, he hit a soaring two-run drive to left as the Pirates built a 4-0 advantage.

Then in his next at-bat, leading off the top of the fourth, Collins connected on another towering blast to left, giving Poteau a 6-0 lead.

"That was pretty amazing; I had never done that before (hit three home runs in one day), I usually hit one or two, so that was the first time I ever hit three, so that was pretty exciting," Collins said.

"(His opening-game grand slam) got me going on that one, and I couldn't stop from there. You've just got to keep pushing it and score runs for your team."

Collins capped off his day with his fourth hit, a double in the fifth as Poteau scored 11 runs that inning.

Fox went 2-for-4 and drove in five runs, including a two-run blast of his own to deep left in the fourth, two batters after Collins' second homer of the game.

Brooks was 3-for-4 with an RBI double, while Braden Knight and Hunter Myers each went 2-for-3 and two RBIs.

Fox was the winning pitcher in the second game, allowing one run on four hits, striking out eight.

The only run Miami scored in the series came in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Keaton Jinks.

"We definitely brought the energy from the end of the first game to the second game, and I think that helped us out quite a bit," Brooks said. "Hopefully, we can take that into regionals with us."