MacArthur catcher Trey Longacre tries to field an errant throw as a Noble player slides into home plate during Saturday’s game at MacArthur.
After so much success to open the season, things are unraveling at a rather untimely juncture for MacArthur baseball.
Needing only one more win to clinch a spot as a regional host, the Highlanders fell victim to several unforced mistakes, leading to a devastating 7-6 loss to Noble at home on Saturday evening.
The defeat was Mac’s sixth in its last eight games, dropping it to third place in District 5A-1 behind Duncan and El Reno.
“We didn’t deserve to win that game,” Mac coach Rodney DeLong said. “We didn’t play well, we didn’t pitch, we made three errors and we didn’t hit. We made some base running mistakes, and in those first five innings, we hit into four double plays. It’s hard to score runs when you keep taking yourself out of innings.”
Despite the hiccups, the Highlanders (24-8 overall, 10-4 5A-1) had a decent chance to escape with a win.
Entering the seventh inning trailing 7-1, the Highlanders needed a spark to forge the comeback, and they got just that.
After Rylan Webb grounded out to begin the fateful frame, Racer Felter hit a shot to center field just over the second baseman’s head, and Jack Smith followed up with a single of his own to left field.
Colby Flood then reached first base on a fielder’s choice to load the bases, leading to Felter scoring on a passed ball. Kobe Houseman struck out on the next at-bat to give Mac its second out, but the Highlanders weren’t quite ready to surrender.
Pinch runner Malik Wilson scored on a passed ball, and Trey Longacre was hit by Parker Nash’s pitch shortly after, putting the Highlanders within striking distance with runners at first and third.
Brad Hoskins then launched a single to center field, scoring Flood to trim the Bears’ lead to 7-4.
Consecutive walks once again loaded the bases for Mac, giving it a run in the process, and a wild pitch brought Hoskins home to make it a one-run game with runners on second and third.
An improbable walk-off victory was suddenly within reach.
Unfortunately for the Highlanders, the rally ended there.
Webb popped out on a foul ball near the right-field line, sealing Mac’s fate. The Highlanders outhit Noble, 8-4, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Zac DeLong earned the loss on the mound despite throwing eight strikeouts and allowing only four hits. He did, however, walk eight batters.
Mac defeated the Bears, 9-1, on Friday in the first game of the series, and coach DeLong said his team’s pitching performance was the biggest difference in the outcomes.
“Michelle just threw really, really well against them (Friday), and we didn’t get that today,” coach DeLong said. “Zac struggled all day — he couldn’t find the strike zone. I expected to win today, and I expected him to throw well, but he wasn’t very sharp. If you’re trying to figure out a way to lose a ballgame, that’s how you lose a ballgame, right there.”
Wilson relieved Zac De-Long late in the fifth, and though he struck out Noble’s last batter for the inning, the pitching struggles carried over to the sixth.
With the Bears holding a 3-0 lead, Wilson walked two batters and gave up a single to Braden Fisher, who drove in two runs with a shot down the right-field line. Brandon Rabbitt, who earned the victory on the mound, scored Noble’s next run on an error, extending the advantage to 6-0.
Rabbitt allowed four hits but didn’t record any strikeouts in 3.0 innings.
Hoskins answered with a sacrifice ground out to score Longacre in the bottom half of the sixth, but the Bears weren’t done putting runs on the scoreboard.
Dylan Roberts tallied what became the game-winning hit with a double to left center, driving in Konner Ramsey to make the score 7-1.
Mac began the season with a promising 22-2 record, and coach DeLong said it has been frustrating to see that success dwindle as the playoffs near, costing his team a chance to host a regional.
However, he said he believes the Highlanders might have caught a break with its regional assignment in Piedmont. The host Wildcats sport a record of 12-19, losing 10 of their last 11 games to end the regular season.
“It’s a bad feeling,” DeLong said. “I can’t really put my finger on it. We just started struggling in a few areas. It’s not the end of the world, though, going to the Piedmont regional. The last time I looked, they’ve kind of struggled as well. It’s a winnable regional. I think we have a chance to beat them; we’ve seen them play a couple of times.
“I still think we can regroup, and I’m still positive we can get to the state tournament — I really am.”
Game 1: Mac 9, Noble 1
The Highlanders experienced a drastically different result in the first game of the series on the road on Friday.
Noble grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after second baseman Braden Fisher hit an RBI single to score Dustin Whitmire, but that was all the Bears would manage for the remainder of the game.
Mac responded with three runs in the second and another one in the third to take a 4-1 lead before opening it up with an additional three scores in the fifth and two more in the seventh.
Artzberger pitched a shutout through the remaining six innings, striking out eight while allowing five hits on 112 pitches.
Smith led Mac at the plate, going 2-for-3. Although Hoskins and Zac DeLong finished a combined 2-for-7 at-bat, the pair drove in six of the Highlanders’ nine runs, while Artzberger, Webb and Longacre tallied the other RBIs.
Roberts earned the loss on the mound for Noble, allowed five hits and seven runs with only two strikeouts through 4.2 innings of action.
The win was only the second in seven games for the Highlanders, ending a twogame losing streak.