OKLAHOMA CITY — With the tying runner 90 feet away from home plate and the state championship hanging in the balance, Elgin baseball coach Levi Garrett called time and walked to the mound, instilling confidence in relief pitcher Lance Bianchini.
“I know you’re out of gas,” Garrett told Bianchini, who had just yielded a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead to one run after breezing through his previous four innings of relief duty. “Just give me all you have.”
Bianchini buckled down to earn the win on the mound by forcing a fly out to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark’s right field, where it was caught for the final out as the Owls sprinted to the infield for a team dog pile.
Elgin (28-13) — the team few outside the town believed in entering the state tournament this weekend — was the last team left standing as the Owls were crowned the 2018 Class 4A state champions with a 7-6 victory over Blanchard (34-4) on Saturday night.
“This means the world to us,” Garrett said as the Elgin faithful celebrated with the team. “In 2014, the last state tournament bunch opened everybody’s eyes to what we could be and what we could accomplish at Elgin.
“We found our way with this group. When you get a little momentum, it’s a funny thing.”
Elgin, which was retired in order twice before leaving the bases loaded in the third, couldn’t muster much at the plate through the first three innings. But the Owls exploded four a 4-run fourth inning and added two more runs in the sixth to move in front, 6-4.
Jake Meents provided the biggest hit of the game when he ripped a two-run standup triple to the right field corner.
“I just pulled that fast ball and I wasn’t even paying attention to where the ball went. I just took off,” Meents said. “As soon as coach came up and gave me that hug, I was the happiest ever knowing we were in front.”
Meents, who quickly turned with a bright smile to greet the Elgin fans, arrived at third base with a warm embrace from an ecstatic Garrett.
“I knew we needed some kind of boost to push us through and Jake was the man,” Garrett said. “He was a different guy this whole journey.”
Senior Jacob Dawson doubled twice for two of Elgin’s nine team hits. His two-run, two-bagger in the fourth gave Elgin confidence as his hit to right-center scored Kendrick Black and TJ Niedert, who scored all the way from first. Blanchard catcher Rowdy Steelman bobbled the ball at home plate as Niedert slid in, giving Elgin its first lead of the game, 3-2.
“Always have an approach when you go up to the plate,” Dawson said. “I knew we needed to spark the fans and the dugout so I thought, ‘Why not me? Why not us?’”
Holden Bartosovsky, who had three hits, scored on a wild pitch for the Owls’ fourth run of the inning.
Blanchard, which tallied six team hits, responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half courtesy of a bases-loaded walk and a sac fly.
The Lions hit another sac fly in the sixth to cut Elgin’s lead to 6-5 before Lance’s brother, Trevor Bianchini — who delivered a pair of RBI singles — provided a vital insurance run in the seventh inning. His liner to left scored the speedy Bartosovsky who was wheeled around third to make it 7-5 Elgin.
Bianchini pitched the final five innings as he replaced freshman Braeden Moreland, who pitched the first two innings, got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and gave up a pair of runs in the second that Blanchard built a 2-0 lead with.
“I put all my faith in Lance,” Garrett said. “He’s a gamer and he emptied his tank. Of course he went from focused and frustrated to smiling. I don’t know if the talk helped Lance pull through or not, but it let him know whatever happened, we were still going to be there for him.”
“I was struggling a bit, but I couldn’t let these great fans down,” Bianchini said of the pressure on the mound in the seventh. “We’ve been working hard all year and it finally paid off. This state championship means the world and there’s nothing else I’d rather have right now.”
Elgin cruised by Poteau, 6-2, in the quarterfinals before pummeling another 30-win team, Verdigris, 16-1, in the semifinals. Taking down Blanchard took the cake.
“It’s the best feeling in the world to come win state,” said senior shortstop Jaken Snider, who made several tough plays look routine to save runs in dire situations. “We knew we were going to end up getting hot at the right time.”
Next year, the Owls are planning on repeating.
“Bring that target on us next year. We love it,” Bianchini said. “We’re not the underdogs anymore.”