Prep baseball: Tigers knocked out in 2A semifinals
May 14—OKLAHOMA CITY — Maybe Kyler Proctor isn't just a opposing pitcher, but a bad luck charm.
In the showdown of aces between the Silo right-hander and Oktaha southpaw Jakob Blackwell, bad things happened to the Tigers from the get-go Friday afternoon in what became a 6-2 loss to the Rebels in the Class 2A semifinal round at Palmer Field in Dolese Park.
Proctor, who no-hit Oktaha in the regional final as the two teams split games in the fall, struck out the side in the Oktaha first. Then, hitting leadoff, punched a shallow fly into right field. Second baseman Hunter Dearman, retreating, mishandled it. The next batter, Chase Corbin, laid down a bunt which Blackwell fielded, but the left-hander's throw to first sailed into foul territory, sending Proctor home with the first run.
Tigers left fielder Mason Ledford's diving catch off the bat of Tagen Conary ended the inning.
In the second, Josh Trout walked, Mason Urbany singled him to second. Up came Proctor, who popped up on the right side of the infield. It was dropped by Dearman and Zander Marshall, running for Trout, crossed the plate. On Proctor's subsequent steal of second, the ball skipped away, allowing Urbany to score for a 3-0 advantage.
Other Rebels got involved in the snowball effect.
Another error in the third off the bat of Cordell at shortstop Gabe Hamilton allowed Delton Roberts, on with a leadoff single, to score. Carter Parker's double to left plated two more.
That was more than Proctor, 6-1 now, would need as the Rebels advanced to Saturday's championship game, seeking their fourth consecutive title in their ninth straight trip — excluding the canceled 2020 season due to the pandemic — and their sixth state title since 2010, with an additional three in the fall campaign.
"The kid keeps developing, pitching is going to be his ticket going forward," said Oktaha coach Kevin Rodden. "We tried to get to the late innings and hopefully if he faded a little we could get on him. With a guy like that, your runs are going to be at a premium. So you can't make mistakes like we did."
With his high 80s fastball and curve dominating, he held the Tigers to three hits and struck out 15, but they did, like Rodden hoped, manage to generate some late noise against him. Just not enough.
They threatened him in the fourth when Dearman got a tad of retribution on a double to the gap in right, putting Tyler Allen on at third with two outs. But it was short-lived as Proctor got Brody Surmont swinging for the third out.
And in the fifth, after Hamilton reached on an error and Blackwell walked, Ledford's liner to center scored Hamilton. With James Wilson at bat, Proctor uncorked a wild pitch allowing Kannon Robinson, courtesy running for Blackwell, to cross. But Proctor rebounded to retire Tucker Christian and Allen on strikes.
Silo is 37-2, winners of 27 straight. Oktaha finished at 31-11.
Blackwell, whose only other loss was to Sand Springs in the Owasso Tournament on March 11, finished at 9-2. He struck out three and walked one around six hits. Four of his runs were unearned.
"He did his job," said Rodden. "We just didn't help him defensively. He's hard to shake. He'll never point fingers. He'll say he should have thrown better pitches in those situations."
The Tigers return the entire team next season.
