Deja vu all over again: Tuttle rallies late to beat Fort Gibson in 4A quarterfinals

By Buck Ringgold

EDMOND - To paraphrase the much-quotable Yogi Berra, it was indeed deja vu all over again for Tuttle and Fort Gibson.

In a similar manner to last season’s 4A quarterfinal playoff, Fort Gibson’s Tigers led going into the later innings, only to have Tuttle’s Tigers take over. This time, it was a five-run top of the sixth after Tuttle entered the inning trailing, 3-0.

Tuttle pitcher Alex Conover put his team ahead to stay with a two-run double and then finished things off as Tuttle advanced to Friday’s 4A semifinals with a 7-3 win at Edmond Memorial High School.

“We were just able to get some baserunners on, get some bunts down and play our brand of baseball,” said Conover, a senior who has signed with Cowley College in Kansas. “It’s fun, but you get the job done and just get them around and get them in.”

Not only did Tuttle (35-4) come back in Thursday’s rematch, the Tigers did so against the very same pitcher from last year, Fort Gibson ace Weston Rouse, who is headed to Oklahoma State. And the exact same inning, no less.

Rouse took a 3-1 lead into the sixth in last year’s quarterfinal, only to have Tuttle rally for a 4-3 lead. Fort Gibson tied the score in its half of the sixth, but Tuttle scored two runs in the top of the seventh for a 6-4 win.

Thursday, Rouse pitched shutout ball over five innings and had eight strikeouts, though Tuttle did have its chances. Tuttle stranded two runners on base in each of the first two innings and left six runners on through five.

But Tuttle’s sixth inning started when Ashton Bennight reached first on a dropped third strike. The next batter, Carson Moore, got hit by a pitch and Brady McAdoo followed with a bunt single, loading the bases.

SBLive Oklahoma Top 25 baseball rankings: Stillwater jumps to No. 1 after shakeups in regionals 

Rouse got a strikeout, which brought up Tuttle sophomore Easton Green. On a 2-2 pitch, Green - batting left-handed - went the opposite way and cued a ball down the left-field line, scoring two runners.

“I just stayed short and sweet and I went the other way with it. … It felt good,” Green said. “I just went with the pitch, it was out there, and just went with it.”

It was also special for Green because he has been on the comeback trail from an ACL injury suffered last June.

“I’ve just been grinding to get back on the baseball field and this season, got back and it felt great,” he said. “This was also my first game without my knee brace, and it just felt great to be out there.”

After Green’s pivotal at-bat, Brady Shackelford came up and dropped a successful squeeze bunt, scoring McAdoo and tying the score at 3-all.

Conover came up with two runners on. He drilled a soaring drive to left center that appeared to clear the wall, but at the last moment, the ball glanced off the top of the fence. It did bring in those two runners, as Conover reached second on a double to give Tuttle its first lead on the day, 5-3.

“For sure (I thought it was gone); I don’t know why. … Maybe it was the wind that blew it back in, I don’t know what it was,” Conover said. “But I definitely thought it was (gone); I guess it turned out all right in the end.”

Fort Gibson (25-9) got two runners on in the last of the sixth, but Conover induced a fly ball for the third and final out. Tuttle got insurance with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, as Moore scored on another dropped third strike and Jackson Johnson had an RBI groundout.

"It was really good to see them finally just settle in, find ways (to get) on base and put pressure on them,” Tuttle coach Breck Draper said. “It’s because we just stayed with the game plan and stayed in the process and didn’t let everything get out of control and (letting) the emotions take over your game, which happens a lot at the high school level.”

Rouse, pitching in his final game at Fort Gibson before heading to OSU, ended up striking out 10 over 6 2/3 innings while allowing five hits. Four of the six runs he allowed were unearned.

“Hat’s off to Weston; I talked to him after the game and I told him I’ve lost at least 20 nights of sleep over his big self,” Draper said. “He’s a nightmare to prepare for because he’s so good.

“That first part of the game, he was taking a little bit off of his fastball. He just did a really good job of mixing things up and going against the grain a little bit in what he normally does. But he’s tough, he’s a competitor; I told him I can’t wait to watch him pitch at Oklahoma State.”

But Draper had equal praise for his pitcher. Conover - who also went 2-for-4 at the plate - allowed three runs on six hits while striking out six.

“Alex is a lot like Weston Rouse and I’ll say a lot about Weston Rouse but I’ll also say a lot about Alex Conover; he’s been the most dependable guy we’ve had around here in a long time,” Draper said. “Not that we haven’t had some really dependable guys, but you know what you’re going to get out of Alex every time.”

Oklahoma's best high school baseball players: Meet the state's top infielders

Rouse and Nic Tolbert, a freshman, each went 2-for-3. Tolbert had a two-run single that gave Fort Gibson a 3-0 lead in the fourth, after Landon Nail slid across home plate on a bunt attempt to break a scoreless game.

Tuttle will now have another rematch, this time in the 4A semifinals against Elk City, set for 3:30 p.m. Friday at Edmond Memorial. Last season, Tuttle entered the bottom of the seventh down 5-2 before scoring four runs to pull off a miraculous 6-5 win.

And the Tigers may be facing another Oklahoma State-bound left-hander in Kash Mayfield, a junior who has committed to the Cowboys.

“Elk City’s a heck of a ball club, and just like everybody in this tournament right now, everybody’s a good ball club. … Hopefully, we can pull something off, but we’ll get prepared for Kash,” Draper said. “He’s a competitor, but we’re going to be competing in the box, too, and we’ll be ready to go mentally and it’s about executing and staying with the game plan.”

Elk City 6, Oologah 1

The Elks scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning, despite only recording one hit. That was more than enough for them to go on to win Thursday's 4A quarterfinal game.

Elk City (34-3) scored its initial run on a passed ball; then Catch Geno and Cale Poole drew consecutive bases-loaded walks. Kash Mayfield and Rylee Boyd then added back-to-back RBI groundouts to make it 5-0.

The Elks extended their lead to 6-0 in the third on an RBI single from Cole Buie. It was the only other hit the Elks had all game.

But it ended up being more than enough for Elk City sophomore pitcher Collin Church, who pitched a six-hit complete game, striking out three.

Oologah senior Bryson McGuire went 2-for-3. The lone run from the Mustangs (25-13) came in the fourth, as Landon Roach brought in Chance Pair with a sacrifice fly.

Class 4A Update

Inclement weather suspended the third game of Thursday's 4A quarterfinal round, between Blanchard and Pryor. The game was halted in the fourth inning, with the Lions holding a 9-2 lead.

It will resume at 11 a.m. on Friday back at Edmond Memorial. The fourth and final quarterfinal, between Cushing and Lone Grove, will follow at 1 p.m.

The winners of those two games will then play in the semifinal round at 6 p.m. Friday, after the Tuttle-Elk City semifinal set for 3:30 p.m.