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Blane Henry runs to first base. Matt Swearengin -
Brock Rumer swings at a pitch. Matt Swearengin
Kingston notched an impressive win to open Class 3A baseball regional action and pushed district titlist and host Tulsa Victory Christian to the limit before a pair of losses to close the season.
Coach Darron Henson’s Redskins blasted Sequoyah Tahlequah, 14-1, in their regional opening contest but fell to the Conquerors by a 10-9 count and then 8-6 in the finale. Kingston finished the season with a 16-14 overall record.
Blane Henry had a huge performance both on the mound and at the plate in the Sequoyah triumph in spurring the five-inning run rule triumph.
The Redskin righthander allowed only one run on two hits while striking out four and walking five to pick up the mound victory.
Kingston broke open a scoreless game in the second with a seven-run offensive eruption. Henry was the catalyst with a leadoff double and the Redskins followed suit while batting around in the frame.
Jaksyn Martin, Rhett Coble, Lander Burkhalter and Henry all posted RBI singles coupled with six walks from Indian pitching. They plated four more runs an inning later as Ewan Weaver belted a run-scoring double with singles coming from Reid Patterson and Burkhalter.
Weaver finished with a pair of doubles and drove in three while Henry also had two hits and knocked in four. Burkhalter, Coble and Brock Rumer chipped in two hits apiece with Patterson and Martin each adding one.
In the first meeting with Victory Christian, the Redskins were on the brink of an upset of the district champs before watching the Conquerors plate four runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Kingston built the lead by tallying four runs in the second frame keyed by singles from Patterson, Burkhalter and Seeney.
Trailing 5-4 entering the sixth, the Redskins again came alive offensively with a three-run flurry fueled by Burkhalter’s leadoff double. Weaver also chipped in an RBI single. Two more tallies in the top of the seventh pushed the advantage to three runs without posting a hit.
The Redskins totaled six hits with two apiece from Seeney and Burkhalter in addition to one each from Weaver and Patterson.
After pushing across three runs in the first inning of the finale, Kingston’s bats went quiet until a final surge fell just short in the comeback bid.
Coble contributed a twoout double to ignite a flurry of five straight Redskin hits in the early uprising. Patterson, Burkhalter, Henry andBradyGreeneallnotched singles.
Down 5-2 in the sixth, Kingston narrowed the gap with a pair of runs with Rumer opening with a single and scoring on a Coble hit before a Victory Christian error.
Victory Christian tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh that proved vital with the Redskins countering with just one following a BurkhalterdoubleandHenry RBI single. Greene chipped in another hit, but Kingston left the tying runs on base to end the game.
Rumer, Coble, Patterson, Burkhalter, Henry and Greene all posted two hits for the Redskin offense.