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  • Foster McCollough unloads a fourth-inning double.

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  • Pryor,s Foster McCollough awaits the throw that has Christian Moody diving back to first base on Thursday at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.

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April 8, 2012

Tigers rally to win

Sports Editor Terrell Lester

TULSA — Trailing going into the seventh inning was not a big issue for the Pryor Tigers Friday night.

Brett Mitchell had confidence in his Tiger teammates.

They have “grit,” he said.

The gritty Tigers rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh and clipped the wings of the Collinsville Cardinals, 6-3, in one of the six Drillers High School Baseball Showcase games at ONEOK Field.

Zack Hammock and Mitchell put run-scoring singles back-to-back in the seventh and Foster McCollough drew a bases-loaded walk as the Tigers won their second game in the eight-year-old series.

Mitchell, who started on the mound, collected three of the Tigers’ 11 hits, and drove in three runs.

It was a see-saw battle from the outset. Each team scored in the first and Collinsville added runs in the second and fourth for a 3-1 lead.

Mitchell’s two-run single tied things in the fifth before the Cardinals went back in front in the home sixth.

The Tigers, ranked fifth in Class 5A, sent nine batters to the plate in the explosive seventh. The first five reached base.

The ninth-hole batter, Kelvin Grubbs, started things by taking a pitch on the backside. He advanced on a passed ball and moved to third when Casey Holloway reached on an infield throwing error.

Holloway stole second and Hammock followed with  sharp single to right, scoring Grubbs. Holloway held at third and the Cardinals went to their bullpen.

Zach Guest, their third pitcher, relieved Clint Smith and promptly gave up Mitchell’s go-ahead single to left.

Stephen Faircloth, who unloaded a massive ground-rule double in the first inning, drew an intentional walk, loading the bases with no outs on the scoreboard.

After Nate Wolfe went down swinging, McCollough worked Guest for a base on balls, forcing in Hammock.

Guest then escaped further damaged by retiring the last two Tigers, leaving the bases loaded.

“I wasn’t worried,” Mitchell said. “I knew we had the team to do it. This team has grit.”

The Tigers stranded seven, but it mattered little.

The Tigers consistently had runners on base, keeping the pressure applied to the Cardinals.

Hammock, like Mitchell, collected three hits. Only twice did the Tigers go down in order, in the second and sixth innings.

Faircloth and Holloway had the Tigers’ only extra-base hits. Faircloth’s ground-rule double in the first was a towering, booming shot that hit the warning track and bounced over the right-field fence, near the foul line, some 315 feet from home.

The hit should have scored Mitchell, but he was taken back to third. Wolfe took care of that, however, drilling a single to left. Faircloth was sent home on the hit, but a perfect throw from Christian Moody was awaiting the Tiger long before he reached home.

Mitchell started for the Tigers, but gave way to Wolfe in the third after being touched for the Cardinals’ third hit.

Wolfe retired the last four batters in order as he picked up the win.

The Tigers improved to 12-7 ahead of a Tuesday game at Tulsa Hale.

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