Large West, Small East take All-State baseball

The Small East rode dominant pitching and Large West capitalized on seven errors to post victories in All-State baseball competition Tuesday night at Oral Roberts' J.L. Johnson Stadium.

In the opener the East trio of Tupelo's Matt Benedict, Wyandotte's Jacob Lux and Hartshorne's Evan Sanders combined to allow just one hit while striking out 11 in a 4-0 blanking. The lone West hit was a sharp single to left by Clayton Brewster of Cheyenne leading off the seventh inning.

Rattan's Dustin Davidson doubled and eventually scored on a ground out by Zac Burns of Tushka to put the East in front 1-0 in the third.

The East offense managed only three hits itself off the West trio of Austin Kretchmar from Okarche, Stetson Buller of Timberlake and Brett McNaughton from Pioneer. One of those hits came in the fifth when an RBI double off the bat of Dale's Landon Coon spurred a three-run uprising.

Dusty Henry of Afton reached on an error to begin the frame and rode home on Coon's double. Back to back walks and three wild pitches then did the rest of the damage.

In the nightcap, seven East errors were costly as the Large West posted a 6-2 triumph.

The West took the early edge, cashing in one of the errors in the first along with a pair of singles from Midwest City's Greg Bruno and Edmond North's Joe Robinson to grab a 2-0 advantage.

Durant's Derrick Haworth walked and came across on a two-out single from Dylan Helms of Eufaula in the second to trim the margin in half.

Bruno was the catalyst for the West again in the third, slapping a two-out single before stealing second and scoring on a single from Duncan's Christian Thaxton.

The East got that run back in the fourth as Claremore's Brenton Washausen doubled and scored on a Helms single. That proved to be the final threat from the East squad.

Anadarko's Tanner Dearman had the only hit for the West in a two-run fourth. They also tacked on a final run in the fifth.

Bruno led the charge for the West with three of his team's five hits. The East ended with only four hits, two of which came from Helms.

Ardmore's Carson McPherson, Jones' Blake Estep and J.C. Parker from Southmoore combined for the pitching victory.

Jacob Evans of Broken Arrow was selected as the state player of the year while Yukon's Kevin James captured coach of the year honors.

article updated on 07/25/12 14:51