Much like their last trip to the Class 5A state baseball tournament in 2017, the Durant Lions rolled in with plenty of momentum but ran into a virtual buzz saw in a loss to the eventual state champions last week in Sapulpa.
Despite another solid effort by sophomore lefty Aiden Diviney on the mound, the Lions couldn’t keep up with Duncan in a 4-0 opening round defeat. The Demons made the most of a second straight state finals appearance by toppling Elgin 8-5 in the title tilt on Saturday.
The Demons cashed in three free passes and a wild pitch in scoring the game’s opening run in the first stanza before Diviney got out of trouble.
Duncan notched three of its seven hits and cashed in a Lion error for a pair of tallies in the fourth inning as well. Diviney yielded a final run in the seventh as the Demons posted two singles, capitalized on a Durant error and tossed in a one-out double.
The Lion offense meanwhile was held in check by junior Jayce Ramirez, as he allowed only a Diviney infield single in the third as well as a single by Jacob Joned in the seventh.
Diviney tossed six and one-third frames, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Holdan Robinson notched the final two outs of the contest.
