Durant baseball player Cole Robbins is about to swing at the ball during a recent home game.
Durant head baseball coach J.W. Parsons thought going into this season his experienced squad had the talent to make a run to the state tournament.
After a roller coaster campaign loaded with some ups and downs, that thought turned into fruition during an impressive sweep through the regional tournament at Collinsville, knocking off the host Cardinals twice to claim the crown.
The Lions improved their season record to 17-12 and qualified for the Class 5A state tournament for the first time since 2017. Durant was slated to face last year’s state runner- up Duncan in the state opener on Thursday in Tulsa.
“I made sure we played some really tough teams during the season to help prepare us,” Parsons commented. “I really believe our district was one of the best in the state in 5A.
I haven’t seen the guys that focused all year as they were in the regional that helped us a lot.”
Durant belted Shawnee, 10-0, in the first game of the regional before bouncing Collinsville by 8-1 and 4-0 scores as their pitching was exceptional.
The Lions also came up with timely hits, which had eluded them at times over the course of the regular season.
“Everyone we played knew what Cole (Robbins) and Holdan (Robinson) could do on the mound at the start of the season,” Parsons added. “We were able to develop a lot of younger guys along the way though. (Lucas) McClure, (Aiden) Diviney and (Keyvan) Dollar all came on for us. We turned them loose in the regional and they performed excellently. We couldn’t ask for any more from them.
“We struggled all season with runners in scoring position and getting timely hits. Regionals was a great time to turn that around.”
In the regional opener against Shawnee, Durant raced to an 8-0 first inning lead and was able to get plenty of breathing room for Dollar, who went the distance on the mound in the five-inning run rule while yielding only one hit. He struck out five and walked one.
The early offensive onslaught was sparked by a Robinson two-run homer. McClure and Colton Poore also doubled in runs with Ryder Jones also notching an RBI single.
Poore knocked in another run in the second frame and doubled home the final tally in the fourth. He finished with a team-high three hits and three batted in.
Robbins and McClure added two hits apiece.
Diviney followed by spinning a no hitter in the initial Collinsville showdown, yielding one run with four strikeouts, four walks and two hit batters.
Durant broke the scoring ice with Robinson’s RBI single in the third frame and Elijah McClure drove in two more with a one-out hit.
They tacked on three more runs in the fourth with a Robbins single forcing in two and Jared Avalos’ hit adding another. Diviney helped his own cause by belting a two-run homer to cap the scoring in the fifth inning as he and Robinson led the way with two hits apiece.
Lucas McClure got the mound start in the title tilt and fired five innings, allowing two hits with a pair of strikeouts and four walks in earning the win. Reid Thompson and Robinson chipped in one scoreless frame each.
Jacob Jones finally put the Lions on the board with a lead off home run in the fifth inning and tripled in another run in the sixth before scoring on a Ryder Jones hit to make it 3-0. Avalos drove in Durant’s final tally with a two-out hit in the seventh.
The Lions now take aim on Duncan, which won the District 5A-2 title and sports a glossy 32-6 record.
“It’s an exceptionally tough draw and going to take a lot of focus, grit and determination,” Parsons said. “Everybody that has made it to this point can play and somebody has to win it. Why not us?
“It will be tough, and runs will be tough to come by against a pitching staff like Duncan has but I feel like we are peaking at the right time.”
