Muskogee handles Wagoner at Roughers Field

Kal’el Tripp pitched a complete game and the Roughers scored multiple runs in three innings as Muskogee beat Wagoner 10-4 Thursday.

Tripp limited the Bulldogs to a single run in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings while striking out seven batters. Muskogee improved to 10-14 with the win while Wagoner dropped to 10-13 after the loss.

Muskogee coach John Singler said Tripp has come up big in big situations.

“(Tripp) has been really good for us in non-district play so far this season,” Singler said. “He’s made a lot of big pitches in a lot of key situations. Today he worked himself out of a couple of jams and came out big for us.”

And score the Roughers did. After Wagoner got on the board in the top of the second on a two-out single by Hunter Johnson, Muskogee took the lead in the bottom of the frame on back-to-back wild pitches by Bulldogs starter Mickey Areola — both to Luke Jamison — scoring Ryan Miller and Rock Gilliam to put the Roughers on top 2-1.

Muskogee increased its lead to 6-2 with four in the third on a bases-loaded walk by Kylin Blue, scoring Doc Estes, an error that plated Chris Daniels, another wild pitch from Areola and a sacrifice fly by Miller that brought home Blue.

“We’re trying to be the aggressors offensively,” Singler said. “If they bobble anything in the outfield, we’re trying to take the extra bag, anything like that.”

That was all the support Tripp needed. The right-hander tossed a complete game, allowing seven hits, three earned runs while striking out seven and walking three.

Tripp said the main ingredient on the afternoon was his focus.

“I was focusing on locating in the zone, throwing strikes,” Tripp said. “When I got in those big messes, I really tried to reset, get back to my zone — a good focal point as Coach Adair likes to say — and try to focus in and get my team back in the dugout.”

Wagoner coach Johnny Hutchens said there were too many mistakes that kept his team on the lower end of the score.

“We made a few mistakes at the beginning of the game that cost us,” Hutchens said. “Their pitcher threw a great game and kept us off balance and we could never get anything going. We regroup — everything we’re playing for on Monday and Tuesday is in our district.”

Most of the production for the Roughers came from the bottom of the lineup as the 6-9 batters scored six of the 10 runs. Estes and Gilliam each scored twice, while Jamison and Miller scored one each.

For the game, Muskogee scratched out seven hits and induced walks. Daniels had the only multi-hit game for Muskogee, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one run batted in.

Starting Monday, the Roughers have eight games remaining on the schedule, four in district.

Singler said this is the part of the schedule that is of utmost importance.

“I challenged these guys to get 15 wins before going into regionals,” Singler said. “This was No. 10 so hopefully we can keep it rolling, keep the momentum going. Offense is key — if we can score runs then we’re usually pretty good.”