FORT GIBSON BLANKS OKMULGEE IN 4A-7 CLASH

FORT GIBSON — Good pitching, timely hitting and stellar defense are the baseball keys to victory. And the Fort Gibson Tigers employed all three in fashioning a 7-0 over Okmulgee in a District 4A-7 clash at Carr-O’Dell Tiger Park Monday evening. Senior Brandon Downey took the mound for the Tigers and delivered four innings of one-hit ball while walking three and striking out five Bulldogs. “My fastball and curve were working well today,” said Downey. “Coach did a good job of calling pitches for me.” Defensively, Fort Gibson (7-6, 2-1) was flawless in the field including six putouts by shortstop Jace Clinkenbeard, culminating in a game-ending unassisted double play. Clinkenbeard was one of those that fell into the timely hitting category for the Tigers, going 2-for-3 with three runs batted in. “I just put the ball in play and good things happened for me,” said the Tigers’ senior. “The season’s been pretty good so far. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re getting through it.” Fort Gibson would give Downey all the help he would need in the first inning as Cole Igert led off with a hit. Downey reached on an Okmulgee fielding error, sending Igert to third. Both runners came home on Clinkenbeard’s double to left-center staking the Tigers to a 2-0 lead. Things remained that way until the fourth inning when Fort Gibson got to Bulldogs’ starter James Morley. Chandler Ladd was hit by a pitch to lead things off and Justin Garrett walked. Kadin Berry laid down a sacrifice bunt that turned into a hit when Okmulgee had no one covering first base to take a throw. With the bases full of Tigers, Seth Martin delivered a two-run double and following a strikeout, Martin went to third on a fly out and scored on a Downey base hit. Downey moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a Clinkenbeard hit, building the Fort Gibson lead to 7-0. Though coach Matt Ross was pleased with the win, it was that hitting gap between the first and fourth innings and then again for the last two innings that concerned him a little. “I would like to have seen more hits,” said Ross. “We went in spurts. We’d score and then we didn’t and it’s one of those deals where you’d like to see us get on a roll and be a little more consistent.” With new pitch count rules in effect this year that determine how many days a pitcher must go between assignments — based on the number of pitches thrown in a week — it forces coaches to make choices they might not normally make according to Ross. “We have a tournament this weekend so this new pitch count rule forced me to take Downey out sooner than I would like,” said Ross. “So he would be able to pitch in the tournament. Jace (Clinkenbeard) came in and did nice job for a couple of innings and stayed inside 30 pitches so we’ll have him more available this weekend as well.” Okmulgee (6-8, 0-5) had only one major threat in the game. With two outs in the fourth inning, they put runners at the corners but Downey got Morley to ground into a force play to end the inning. Downey ran his record to 2-2 on the season with the victory while Clinkenbeard and Garrett finished up to preserve the shutout. Besides Clinkenbeard, Igert was the only other Tiger with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

FORT GIBSON BLANKS OKMULGEE IN 4A-7 CLASH

Photo Credit: Fort Gibson Athletics