Oilers cruise past Batesville at state tourney
For the first time since the program was brought back, the El Dorado Oilers have reached the 20-win plateau.
The Oilers jumped out to a 10-0 lead en route to a 10-4 win over Batesville in the opening round of the Arkansas American Legion AAA Senior State Tournament Tuesday at Sheridan.
The win also avenges a loss in the state tournament from a year ago for the Oilers (20-10), who will face Russellville, a 10-4 winner over Paragould, at 5:30 p.m. tonight in the winner's bracket.
The Oilers banged out 13 hits in the win with Tyler Johnson, Tanner McLelland, Gabe Richard and Braden Doherty all collecting two hits apiece in the win.
The early offense was more than enough for Baylor Brumley, who worked three scoreless innings to improve his record on the mound to 5-1.
The Oilers wasted no time in building their big lead, scoring five runs in the opening inning, and they needed all of two pitches to take the lead for good.
McLelland started the rally by hitting the first pitch of the game down the left-field line for a leadoff double.
Brumley then helped his own cause by lining a base hit to center on the game's second pitch to score McLelland to open the scoring.
Following a walk to Rhett Richardson, Doherty singled to center, loading the bases.
Johnson then delivered a base hit to center to score Brumley to make it 2-0.
With the bases reloaded, Richard laced a single to left-center to score Richardson and Doherty to push the Oilers' lead to 4-0.
Richard then stole second to put a pair of runners in scoring position, and Ty Disotell followed with a single to left to score Johnson to cap the scoring in the frame.
“We came out swinging the bats tonight better than what we have all year,” said Oilers coach Greg Harrison.
“It generally is going to be a good night when you score your first run on two clean base hits off of the first two pitches of the game. It generally is going to be a great night when your first five batters score in the first inning.
“As the visiting team, it is a desired strategy to jump on your opponent early, and we did that tonight.”
The Oilers posted their second five-run frame in the third.
Richard singled to start the inning and Disotell drew a walk to put runners at first and second.
Richard was forced out at third on Jackson Cook's bunt back to the mound, but Josh Saulsbury singled to center to load the bases.
McLelland then delivered a single to left to score Disotell to extend the lead to 6-0.
Brumley drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Cook, and one out later, Doherty drove in Saulsbury with a base hit to center to make it 8-0.
With the bases still loaded, Johnson came up with a big twostrike hit, hitting a 0-2 curveball to left-center for a two-run single to score McLelland and Brumley to make it 10-0.
Brumley, who allowed two hits and didn't issue any walks or record any strikeouts, gave way to Hunter Lawrence.
Lawrence allowed all four of Batesville's runs over 2 2/3 innings, but only one of the runs was earned.
He allowed three hits, walked one and didn't record any strikeouts.
Disotell closed out the game, working 2 1/3 scoreless innings.
He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out two.
All three pitchers finished with under 45 pitches thrown in the game, so all will be able to pitch if necessary against Russellville.
Johnson was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run scored, while McLelland was 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored in the win.
Richard was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a stolen base and Doherty finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base, one run scored and one RBI.
Brumley was 1-for-1 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBIs, Disotell went 1-for-3 with a walk, one run scored and one RBI and Cook was 1-for-4 with one run scored.
Richardson was 1-for-2 with two walks and one run scored, Saulsbury wound up 1-for-3 with a walk and one run scored and Lawrence stole two bases to round out the Oilers' offensive barrage.
“Banging out 13 hits, everyone in our starting nine had a clean base hit,” Harrison said. “That is what you want to see to open a tournament. We made a few mistakes in the field after we got up 10-0, and we will clean that up. We need to stay hungry, as no lead is safe in the postseason. I couldn't be prouder of these young men for the way they showed up tonight.
“We're going to enjoy and learn from this, waking up to focus on Russellville.”