The baseball season is quickly coming to an end for the Waurika Eagles.
The Eagles will enter post-season play today at Central High for the Class A District Tournament.
In the first game Waurika will take on Empire at 3:30 p.m. and no matter the outcome will take on the host school following the first game around 5:30 p.m.
The tournament is double-elimination and two losses by the Eagles in today’s action would end the Waurika nine’s season.
In the final days of the regular season, the Eagles were able to get a pair of wins over Ryan and a victory over Geronimo. The Eagles dropped a contest to Dickson and had last Friday’s contest with Wilson rained out.
Coach Glen Howard’s crew will take a 9-13 record into today’s tournament.
The Eagles picked up their eighth and ninth wins of the season Monday night in a three-way matchup with Ryan and Geronimo at Geronimo.
The Eagles defeated Ryan, 10-2, and then held off Geronimo for a 5-3 victory.
Last Friday’s scheduled game with Wilson was rained out.
In Monday’s action, Waurika took advantage of eight Ryan errors for the victory.
The game was scoreless after two innings, but Waurika erupted for four runs in the top of the third inning.
Bryson Hernandez reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on an errant pickoff attempt.
Michael Bryant and Zachary Brown both walked and an RBI-single by Austin Dyer scored Bryant.
The Eagles scored two more runs on another Ryan miscue with Brown and Dyer scoring to give Waurika a 4-0 lead.
Waurika added a run in the top of the fourth when Colton Bryant reached on an infield single and stole second. A ground out by Hernandez pushed across Bryant for a 5-0 Waurika lead.
The Cowboys managed two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 5-2, but the Eagles responded with five runs in the top of the fifth inning to seal the win.
Dyer led off the inning with a single and Edwin Garcia was hit by a pitch. Dyer scored as C. Bryant reached on an error and Garcia and C. Bryant scored on another Cowboy fielding error to make the score 8-2.
Hunter Wesberry reached base on an error and later scored on a passed ball. Hernandez followed with a single and Brown got an RBI on a fielder’s choice to close out the Waurika offensive onslaught.
Dyer and Hernandez led the Eagles with two hits apiece.
In the second game Monday, the Eagles got an outstanding pitching performance from Brown and Wesberry recorded a save on the mound for Waurika.
The Eagles scored first in the top of the second inning as Brown reached on a single and stole second. He scored on Gatlin Black’s run-scoring single and the Eagles got another run on a Bluejay error to gain a 2-0 advantage.
In the top of the third inning, the Eagles added another run on somewhat controversial play. Wesberry reached on an error and advanced to second after M. Bryant walked.
Wesberry scored from third after Bryant was hit by a ball trying to advance to third. This gave Waurika a 3-0 lead.
Geronimo finally got on the board in the bottom of the third with a single tally helped along by an Eagle error to cut the lead to 3-1 after three innings.
The Eagles added another run in the fourth inning after the Geronimo center fielder could not make a play on Dyer’s fly ball. An infield single by Seth Waid drove Dyer home giving Waurika a 4-1 lead.
Geronimo rallied for two runs in the bottom of the fourth on two hits, two singles and an error to cut the Eagle advantage to 4-3.
Waurika added an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning as three consecutive singles the last of which came from M. Bryant that drove in Wesberry for a 5-3 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth Wesberry came on to retire the Bluejay batters in order to seal the win.
Waid and Wesberry each had two hits to pace the Eagles at the plate.
A week ago Tuesday, the Eagles scored an 8-0 victory over Ryan after dropping a 12-1 decision to Dickson in a three-way contest at the Eagle diamond.
The Comets score three runs in the first, fourth more in the second to take a commanding 7-0 lead heading to the bottom of the second.
The Eagles managed a run in the bottom of the second as Brown got an infield single and moved to second on Dyer’s single. Watkins reached on an error and Payton Fletcher then got an RBI-infield single to give Waurika the only run of the game.
Dickson added five more runs in the top of the fourth inning and the game ended by the run rule after the Eagles could not score in the bottom of the inning.
Dyer took the loss on the mound for the Eagles.
In the second game for Waurika, the Eagles jumped out on top of Ryan after the first inning with a three-run uprising.
Wesberry singled and scored on Brown’s RBI-single. Brown advanced on a stolen base and some defensive indifference by the Cowboys sent him to third. Dyer picked up a walk and Watkins’ base hit got a two-RBI single for the Eagles.
The Eagles added a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to add to the lead. C. Bryant led off the inning with a walk and Hernandez singled. C. Bryant scored on Wesberry’s ground out.
Black reached on an error that enabled Hernandez to cross the plate and make the score 5-0 after two innings.
In the third inning the Eagles got another run as Watkins singled and stole second and third. Watkins scored on a passed ball putting Waurika ahead, 6-0, after three innings.
The game ended in the bottom of the fourth as the Eagles scored two more runs with M. Bryant scoring on a wild pitch and reaching on a base hit and Wesberry scoring after reaching on an error.
Watkins’ two hits paced the Eagles at the plate, while Brown tossed a one-hitter to get the win on the mound.
