Published: July 01, 2009 03:04 pm      

McCurry's start closes Enid

ADA — The visiting Enid Majors saw more than they wanted of Randy McCurry in Tuesday’s rematch with the Ada Legion Post 72 Braves at Cougar Field. In fact, the four-time defending state Legion champs got a bigger dose of McCurry — the pitcher — than any team had in almost two years.

McCurry — who had pitched less than four innings in three relief appearances this summer, hadn’t started on the mound since the 2008 All-State game and hadn’t gone six innings since pitching a shutout for Tupelo against Roff in the Class B state championship game in the fall of 2007 — dominated the powerful Enid offense for five innings before tiring in the sixth and was the pitcher of record in a 6-2 victory that extended the Braves’ winning streak to 13 games.

In addition to his impressive performance on the mound, McCurry — who has missed nine of Ada’s 31 games — hit his team-leading 10th home run of the summer and made a sensational play at shortstop in the ninth inning to help the Braves (6-1 winners at Enid a week earlier) sweep the regular-season series from a Majors club that beat them in the state tournament last season.

“He dominated them for six innings, and our bullpen came in and did a great job,” Post 72 coach Travis Graham said after seeing his club win for the 23rd time in 26 games to improve to 23-8 on the season. “Even the balls (Enid) hit weren’t hit very hard.”

McCurry threw 63 of his 88 pitches for strikes and struck out two batters in each of his six innings on the mound on a hot, humid evening. Although the Majors (21-10) scored twice in the sixth, all 12 of McCurry’s pitches in the inning were strikes, and he fanned two of the last three hitters he faced.

“I felt pretty good for the first four innings,” said McCurry, who spent his freshman season in college this spring as the closer for Oklahoma State University. “I just got tired.”

After McCurry moved to shortstop in the seventh, Tyler Carter, Dillon Phillips and Chad Woods (McCurry’s teammate on Tupelo teams that won state titles in the spring and fall of 2007) each worked a scoreless inning in relief, striking out four more Enid hitters and allowing no hits to nail down the victory.

Graham needed a strong effort from his pitching staff, because the Braves managed just six hits off three Enid hurlers. Three of those hits were home runs, however. McCurry golfed an 0-1 offering from Enid starter Seth Sturgeon over the fence in left with one out in the third to give Ada a 2-0 lead, then in the fourth, leadoff hitter Robert Thomas lined a 3-1 pitch over the fence in left-center with one out and Riley Keith added a majestic two-out shot to left to make it 4-0.

“That was good to see,” Graham said. “Power is something we’ve been lacking lately, other than Randy.”

When McCurry took the mound in the sixth, he had surrendered just three hits, and Enid (21-10) had managed just one real threat to that point. That came in the fourth, when Tobin Mateychuk led off with an infield hit and went to third with one out when Ada right fielder Jake Williams couldn’t hang onto Tom Ward’s line drive to right center after a long run. Mateychuk went to third on the error but was stranded there when McCurry struck out Matt McDonald and Zach Sell (each for the second time in the game) to end the inning.

Mateychuk led off the sixth with a soft single to center, and Seth Floyd lined an opposite-field hit to right one pitch later, sending Mateychuk to third. McCurry then hit Tom Ward to load the bases but struck out Zach Gonzalez — hitting for McDonald — on a nasty breaking pitch for the first out. The pitch broke well out of the strike zone, however, and eluded Keith (the Ada catcher), allowing Mateychuk to score the first Enid run.

Zach Sell followed with a groundout to score Floyd and make it 4-2 before McCurry ended his night on the mound by striking out Kelly Padilla (for the third straight time) on three pitches.

The Braves manufactured a run in the sixth, when Sturgeon — who had thrown 112 pitches through the first five innings — issued a leadoff walk (his fifth of the game, in addition to hitting three batters) to Hunter Marcum. Thomas moved Marcum to third with a groundout to the right side, then Jeremy Stein (another member of Tupelo’s 2007 state championship teams) fought off an 0-2 pitch (Sturgeon’s 127th and last of the game) and lined it to center for a sacrifice fly to put Ada up 5-2.

In the seventh, Enid reliever Jaxson Johnson struck out the first two batters he faced before the Braves mounted a two-out rally to score their final run of the game. Matt Mayes hit a routine grounder to third that should have been turned into the third out in the inning, but he hustled down the line to beat the throw. Williams walked on a 3-2 pitch before Marcum slapped an opposite-field double into the left field corner to plate Mayes and send Williams to third.

Johnson then hit Thomas to load the bases and bring on the third Enid pitcher of the evening, Blake McMullen, who avoided further damage when he retired Stein on a liner to center field for the third out.

Ada’s defense also turned in several nice plays, capped by McCurry’s gem in the ninth. Dylan Nave hit a 1-1 pitch from Woods up the middle, but McCurry ranged behind second base, gloved the ball on a short hop and fired to Mayes at first to nip to Enid leadoff hitter. Nick Rountree then lined out to McCurry, and Woods struck out Eddie Cervantes to wrap up just the second 1-2-3 inning of the night by either team.

Thomas — who had four hits in Sunday’s 6-5 win over Bartlesville — wrapped up a sensational June with two hits to pace the Ada offense, but everybody in the lineup reached base at least once.

“Everybody got in the game tonight (with the exception of David Cagle and Jon Gray, who combined to pitch eight innings in Sunday’s victory), and everybody made a contribution,” Graham said. “These guys are defining their roles right now for the playoffs, and I think they’re all enjoying their roles.

“They know we’re a good ballclub right now, but we can’t get complacent,” he said. “We’ve beaten Enid twice, but we haven’t won anything yet.”

After playing 10 games in 11 days to close out their June schedule, the Braves are off until Monday, when they will play a doubleheader against the Oklahoma City Ambassadors at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond — the site of this year’s Legion state tournament. The first game is at 4 p.m.

After Monday’s twinbill, the Braves will spend the rest of the week at the Wooden Bat Classic near Kansas City, where they will be part of a 40-team field in that pool play event. Legion Post 72 will host a hamburger fry fundraiser Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ada American Legion Post 72, and the team will leave for Missouri immediately afterward. The Braves play their first tournament game at 8:30 p.m. next Wednesday.