Despite weather playing havoc with the schedule last week, the Durant High School baseball team leveled their district record as well picking up two other victories to up their season record to 8-7.
The Lions won a pair of District 5A-4 shootouts, 10-7 and 13-8, over Tahlequah to move to 4-4 in league play and all alone in third place in the standings. They also throttled Hugo (10-1) and Caney (8-0) with a loss to Calera (7-3) in three games at the rain-shortened Atoka Wood Bat Tournament.
With a break from league play this week, Durant is slated to participate in the McAlester Festival on Friday and Saturday with games against Tushka and Muskogee.
The Lions definitely had one of the most dramatic wins over the season in the initial triumph over Tahlequah, scoring three times in the seventh inning to tie it before winning the contest on an Aiden Diviney three-run homer in the eighth.
Tahlequah scored a pair of runs in each of the first three stanzas and it looked like the Tigers might run away with it before Durant mounted a rally.
They notched two in the fourth on RBI singles from Jared Avalos and Lucas McClure and another in the fifth on a two-out hit by Ryder Jones.
Trailing 7-4 in the seventh, the Lions cashed in five walks and a Tahlequah error to force extra frames. Jackson Williams followed with a stellar frame in the eighth, fanning two of three Tiger batters, setting the stage for Diviney’s twoout bomb over the rightfield wall.
McClure tallied three hits to pace the Durant offensive charge with Diviney, Avalos, Cole Robbins, Williams, Reid Thompson and Jones each adding one.
Williams yielded one unearned run on four hits and struck out three over the final four stanzas to record the pitching win.
The Lions wasted little time taking control in the return matchup, plating a pair of runs in the first inning and then five more in the second while stringing together six singles and a double from Robbins.
It was a 7-3 Durant lead in the fifth when the Lions put it away with another five-run outburst as they cashed in three free passes and three Tahlequah errors.
Robbins tossed five and two-third innings to get the pitching victory as he yielded only one earned run on five hits, struck out five and walked six. Lucas McClure earned a save with an inning and one-third of scoreless one-hit relief.
Robbins, Thompson and Elijah McClure all had two hits for the Durant offense.
Durant made the most of only five hits against Hugo, cashing in 13 walks and three hit batters along the way.
It was only a 2-1 Lion edge before Coach J.W. Parsons’ squad erupted for three tallies in the fourth and five in the fifth to pull away.
Williams and Robbins had one hit and three RBI apiece. Lucas Mc-Clure drove in two with one hit as did Holdan Robinson.
Jones was the pitching benefactor, tossing four innings with one unearned run on three hits and three strikeouts. Keyvan Dollar also contributed a frame of scoreless relief.
Thompson was stellar on the mound in the victory over Class B’s 10th ranked Caney, twirling a onehit shutout in five innings of work, striking out a pair and walking one.
The Lions once again ended with five hits, including doubles from Diviney and Colton Poore. Jones tacked on two singles and drove in a pair.
