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Rhett Coble swings at a pitch. Matt Swearengin
The Kingston Redskins split four games to close out the District 3A-8 season to wrap up the fourth seed in the upcoming state playoffs.
Coach Darron Henson’s squad will travel to Victory Christian for the Class 3A regional tournament this week and face Sequoyah Tahlequah in the opening round.
Kingston dropped a narrow 2-1 verdict to Idabel and then lost a 12-0 verdict to the Warriors to start last week. The Redskins bounced back for 10-3 and 12-5 victories against Atoka however to finish 9-5 in league play and move their overall record to 14-11.
Hayden Seeney provided a solid pitching performance in the Idabel opener, yielding just one earned run on eight hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks, but took the tough luck loss.
The Redskins finished with two hits in the game, getting one on a third inning double by Rhett Coble that plated the lone Kingston run. Ewan Weaver notched the other hit with a leadoff double in the sixth frame.
Offensive struggles continued for the Redskins one day later, picking up just one hit on a single by Coble in the shutout defeat.
Kingston found its offensive rhythm again against Atoka, posting 11 hits in the opening win as they got rolling early with three first inning tallies fueled by a two-run single from Lander Burkhalter. Coble drove in another with a single in the second and Jaksyn Martin contributed a two RBI hit one stanza later.
A four-run fifth inning eruption put it away keyed by hits from Burkhalter, Ethan Mowles and Martin. That proved to be Burkhalter’s team-high third hit of the contest.
BradyGreenerecordedthe pitching win in five innings, allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
The district finale was highlighted by a stellar five and one-third inning scoreless relief appearance from Burkhalter as he earned the pitching win after Kingston broke a 5-5 second inning deadlock. The righthander did not allow a hit, struck out five and walked two.
Hits by Coble and Reid Patterson sparked a fiverun first frame but it was an Atoka error that plated the eventual go-ahead tally in the second.
Two more runs in the third inning and four in the sixth helped put the win away despite just five hits from the Redskins. Coble notched two of those with Weaver, Patterson and Burkhalter all ending with one.