Oak Ridge topples Consol

CONROE, Texas - Luken Baker and the state-ranked Oak Ridge War Eagles toppled the visiting A&M Consolidated Tigers Tuesday night in business-like fashion, 9-5 and upped their overall record to 18-2 and 3-1 in District 14-5A.


Baker, the big junior pitcher who has verbally committed to TCU went 5.2 innings scattering eight hits while striking out six and giving up five runs.

Baker wasted no time getting started as he retired the first three Tiger batters. In the bottom half of the first inning, right fielder Alex Walker jumped on a Jared Hermann offering sending a blast that caromed off the top of the left-center field wall for a stand up double. Baker then helped his own cause by singling Walker home to get the War Eagles on the scoreboard. Kim Plympton then hit a hard ground ball to Tiger third baseman Chase Corrington who fielded it cleanly and threw the ball to second base but the Tiger second baseman was in no man's land enabling Jose Sanchez, courtesy running for Baker to advance to second base. Sanchez and Plympton then moved up a base on a wild pitch and Joey Barrile proceeded to plate both runners on a sharp single through the infield. Barrile eventually scored on a fielders choice to wrap up Oak Ridge scoring in their first frame.



A&M batters came out swinging and making contact in the second inning but the baseballs couldn't find daylight as Baker threw just five pitches retiring the side in order. The Oak Ridge offense was back in the dugout ready to go again after spending all of 136 seconds in the field.



The Oak Ridge offensive barrage continued in the second inning as Riley McKnight singled and then stole second on the first pitch to the next batter, Zach Rollins. Rollins walked and then Walker singled loading the bases for Baker. Baker flew out to deep right field sacrificing McKnight home. Plympton then singled Rollins and Walker home concluding War Eagle scoring.



A&M Consol bats came alive in the third inning as Tyler Landers and Seth Beathard sent two softly hit ground balls through the infield. Baker got the next two batters on a strikeout and a fly ball to right-field. Some mild control issues plagued Baker as he walked the next two batters. Three batters later and Consol was back in the game, down just 7-5.



Oak Ridge's third sacker, Anthony Smith led off the bottom half of the third inning taking a fastball to the arm. A steal, balk and wild pitch had Smith passing home. McKnight got a free pass and then A&M left- fielder, Zach Smith misplayed a Walker pop fly allowing McKnight to score which turned out to be the last run scored by both teams for the remainder of the evening.



Submarine pitcher, Peydon Vasquez spelled Baker with two gone in the sixth and was brilliant getting all four batters he faced on a strikeout, a ground out and two fly balls.



Seth Beathard had two hits for the Tigers while teammate Stephen Schlett had two-RBI's. A&M Consol outhit the War Eagles 8 to 6 while both teams had just one error each.



"Luken pitched well for having been off for ten days. He faced some adversity in the third inning but battled and showed a lot of composure. He didn't have his best stuff but he found a way to get the job done. l like how we're playing but we need to bring it up to another level. We were up, then we had a lull, then up again. You just hope to be playing your best near the end of the season," said Oak Ridge Head Coach Mike Pirtle.



Oak Ridge travels to Lufkin on Friday for a 6pm tilt.