Oakley Roessler and Grant Cooper picked up wins to lead the McDonald County 18U baseball team to a 2-2 record at the Grove 18U Showcase held June 16-17 in Grove, Okla.
Roessler went six innings and allowed just one run on six hits in six innings to give McDonald County a 2-1 win over Poteau, Okla., in the opener on June 16. He struck out five and walked six.
Joe Brown got the save, allowing a hit and walking one in a scoreless seventh.
Poteau took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but McDonald County tied the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Tanner Leonhardt walked to lead off the inning. Kammeron Hopkins moved Leonhardt to second with a sacrifice bunt before the Exeter senior came around to score on a pair of walks and a wild pitch.
McDonald County scored the winning run in the sixth. Micah Burkholder led off with a triple but was still at third with two outs when Nevin Price drove him in with a single.
McDonald County was held to a lone single by Izak Johnson before Burkholder's and Price's seventh-inning hits to plate the winning run.
NEO 16U Prospects
McDonald County built a 7-1 lead over the 16U NEO Prospects, but the Oklahomans scored eight runs in the fifth inning to pull out a 9-8 win.
Johnson was sailing along until the fifth when the Prospects scored eight runs on eight hits and a walk off the McDonald County senior and Reece Cooper, who got the final out of the inning after allowing two hits.
McDonald County scored a run in the first on a single by Joe Brown and an RBI hit by Omar Manuel.
McDonald County made it 4-0 in the second. Leonhardt and Hopkins singled to start the inning. Purdy's Hunter Cook doubled in a run before Price singled to drive in two more.
McDonald County added to its lead with a run in the third on singles by Johnson and Burkholder and an error.
Grove cut the lead to 5-1 in the top of the fourth inning, but McDonald County answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. Cooper singled with one out before scoring on an RBI single by Brown. Johnson then doubled to drive in the second run of the inning.
After the Prospects took a 9-7 lead in the top of the fifth, Leonhardt cut the margin to one with a home run in the bottom half of the inning, but after Price held the Prospects scoreless in the top of the sixth, McDonald County failed to score in the bottom half after Roessler led off the inning with a double.
Roessler, Leonhardt, Brown, Price and Johnson led McDonald County with two hits each, while Cooper, Manuel, Hopkins, Cook and Burkholder had one each.
Charros
McDonald County pulled an about-face from the day before in first game on June 17. After blowing a 7-1 lead in a 9-8 loss to the 16U NEO Prospects on June 16, McDonald County rallied from an 8-1 deficit to pull out a 9-8 win over the Oklahoma Charros.
The McDonald County rally made a winner out of Grant Cooper, who went the distance in the six-inning game.
Brown led the offense with three hits, while Johnson and Koby McAlister each had two.
18U NEO Prospects
In its final game, McDonald County dropped a 9-2 decision to the 18U NEO Prospects.
Price allowed five runs in two innings, while Hopkins gave up two in an inning of relief and Lionhardt allowed one run in one inning.
Price had an RBI single. Brown added a double and Burkholder had a single to lead the offense.
Sports on 06/21/2018