Plainsmen fall to Deer Creek

Mar. 19—Enid lost its first game of the Edmond Spring Break Festival on Thursday, an 8-0 loss to Deer Creek in five innings.

The Plainsmen's game against Norman North that was scheduled for Thursday afternoon was canceled.

Senior Kade Goeke was the only Plainsman to land a hit against a tough Antlers team that is 7-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class 6A-1. Deer Creek was able to build a lead early with a four-hit, three-run first inning to start the game and never looked back.

"They jumped out there and got four or five hits in the first inning and kind of made a statement and then they just kept applying pressure," Enid head coach Brad Gore said after the game.

The Antlers' starting pitcher, Jackson Hill, allowed no earned runs, one hit, had four strikeouts, and walked one batter in a win. Gore had high praise for Hill's performance.

"The pitcher was a good pitcher," Gore said, "Hill throws higher 80s and mixes it up good ... those kinds of pitchers give everybody trouble but they really give us trouble. We're trying to figure out how to get some quality at bats but against a tough pitcher it's just a process but hopefully as we go along here we can start to figure it out."

Enid's Tyler Holland was the losing pitcher and allowed eight hits, five earned runs, struck out five batters and walked just one in 3.2 innings pitched.

Gore says he has been encouraged with his team cutting down on strikeouts over the last few games, but didn't think his team's hits were strong enough to get on base against a team like Deer Creek.

"We just kind of got it stuck on us today ... " Gore said. " ... They made all the plays, we didn't hit a whole lot of balls hard but they made all the plays and they just have a lot of weapons."

The Plainsmen are nearing the midway point of their season and Gore thinks his team still has plenty of time to build on their 2-8 record.

"We just have to keep plugging away," Gore said, "I told my kids, 'We've just got to keep fighting every game, and there's no sense in looking back. We've got to learn from what we're doing right now, try to get better each game, it's a marathon not a sprint.' I'm darn sure not giving up and I know they're not either."

On Friday, Enid will take on 4A Muldrow at Putnam City at 10 a.m. Gore said he's going to be looking for his team to come out more aggressively against the Bulldogs.

"We want to be aggressive at the plate tomorrow," Gore said, "We've got to throw strikes and play defense. We're trying to build on everything we can build on, every little thing that we can build on right now."

The Plainsmen will play one more spring break game on Sunday at Broken Arrow at 6 p.m.

Masri is sports editor for the Enid News & Eagle.

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