Enid News and Eagle
FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The beach seems to bring out the comeback in the Enid Plainsmen.
The Plainsmen rallied back from deficits of 7-0 and 9-4 to beat Childersburg, Ala., 10-9 in eight innings on the first day of the Oklahoma-Alabama Baseball Challenge Monday.
Eric Ramirez’s sacrifice fly scored Joe Black, who had singled to open the Enid eighth, with the winning run. Black stole second and went to third on a bunt single by Colter LeGrant. Ramirez had three RBI on the day for the Plainsmen, 3-1.
“That was textbook,’’ said Enid coach James Peoples about the eighth inning. Everybody did a good job of executing what they were suppose to do. Eric has been swinging a hot bat for us.’’
Joe Phillips had capped a five-run Plainsmen rally to tie the game at 9-9 in the seventh when he stole home with two outs.
Childersburg reliever Cole Limbaugh had been slow coming to the plate. Peoples said Enid had the right runner on third.
“I thought that would give us a chance to steal it,’’ he said. “We executed well.’’
Black had opened the frame with a triple and scored on a single by LeGrant, who had three hits on the day. Two runs scored on wild pitches and another on a RBI single by Blake Ferguson.
Childersburg had runners on first and third with two out in the eighth, but the Tigers were unsuccessful on a double steal attempt. Enid second baseman Dylan Walker threw out a runner at the plate for third out.
Peoples, before the play, had called time to discuss strategy with his infield.
“We work on that a lot in practice,’’ he said. “I thought with two outs, they might try to leave early. We executed it well.’’
Childersburg, a 4A school in Alabama, had open the game with two runs in the first on a two-run homer by Chase Smith. A throwing error led to two Tiger runs in the second.
Childersburg added three runs in the third on three hits.
Plainsmen starter Christian Lafontan departed in the third after walking.
Reliever Nick Keeling kept Enid in the game before departing for closer Seth Floyd in the eighth. He allowed only two runs and six hits over 51⁄3 innings.
“Keeling did an outstanding job,’’ Peoples said. “He threw strikes and let the defense do the work for him.’’
Enid got back in the game with four runs in the third with the big blows being a solo home run by Lawson King, a two-RBI single by Ramirez and an RBI single by Mikey Bretado. LeGrant and Floyd had singles and scored runs.
The Tigers scored single runs in the fourth and fifth, but were shut down by Keeling the rest of the way.
“We made some mental and physical errors early, but the kids showed a lot of character,’’ Peoples said. “Hopefully, we will learn from this win.’’
EHS will face Theodore, Ala., at 4 p.m. with Bretado schedule to pitch The Plainsmen will play Fairhope, Ala., Wednesday and Daphe, Ala., Thursday.
.KCRC (1390 AM) will air the game.
ENID 10, CHILDERSBURG 9
CHUDERSBURG 223 110 00 —9 9 1
ENID 004 000 51 —10 12 3
Cobb, Jones (5), Riddle (7), Limbaugh (7) and Sloan; Lafontan, Keeling (3), Floyd (8) and J. Phillips. WP - Floyd (1-0), LP — Limbaugh. 3B — Black, E. HR — Smith, C; King, E.
