Published: October 10, 2008 04:13 pm      

Roff takes down Tupelo

Oklahoma City — A couple of days before sending his young, 20-loss team into Thursday’s David-versus-Goliath showdown with Class B No. 1 Roff at Dolese Park, Tupelo coach Clay Weller said he was hoping his lineup could avoid strikeouts and put the ball in play, and, for the most part, the Tigers did that. They just never seemed to find a hole when they got a bat on the ball.

Roff starter Dayne Parker (5-1) allowed just two baserunners and no hits over four innings and teamed with two relievers on a one-hitter, and he also had four hits (including two doubles) and scored four times in a run-rule 10-0 victory that pushed the Tigers from Pontotoc County into the “fall ball” semifinals for the third straight year.

With the win, Roff — a 6-0 loser to top-ranked Tupelo in the Class B title game last fall — improved to 35-2 and advanced to a second-round showdown with No. 11 Dover, which upset seventh-ranked Arnett, 10-5, Thursday afternoon.

Parker, who pitched in relief for most of the second half of the regular season, dominated the Tupelo lineup in his four innings on the mound Thursday. The junior righthander faced just one batter over the minimum and struck out three while registering 36 strikes from his 59 pitches, and he didn’t allow his first baserunner until the fourth. Jeremy Stein drew a walk leading off the inning after a tough eight-pitch at-bat, but he was wiped out at second when Brendan McCurry snagged a ground ball off the bat of Jake Sanders to start a nifty 5-4-3 double play.

At the plate, Parker was a thorn in Tupelo’s side all evening. He singled home one run and scored another to highlight Roff’s four-run first inning, he led off with a single and scored the first run in a four-run third, he doubled and scored in the fourth, and he doubled again with one out in the sixth and scored the run that ended the game on the run rule when Blake Logan singled to left with two outs.

“Dayne had a good ballgame,” Roff coach Ead Simon said. “By starting him today and pitching Aaron (Cornell) tomorrow, we can use Brendan (McCurry) in relief. If we play well and get to the finals (at noon Saturday at Dolese), we will have our two best pitchers (Logan, who is expected to get the start if the Tigers reach the title game, and McCurry) ready.”

Seven of the nine starters in the Roff lineup had at least one hit, and an eighth — senior catcher Taylor Whitis — scored Roff’s second run in the third after drawing a walk and drove in Parker with a sacrfifice fly to right in the fourth.

Cornell, the Roff leadoff hitter, led off the bottom of the first with a double down the left field line and scored the game’s first run on a throwing error, and he also singled to left to plate the final two runs in the Tigers’ four-run third. Logan also had two hits — an RBI single in the third to chase Tupelo starting pitcher Trevor Walkup and the game-ending single in the sixth — and also scored a run in the third on Mark Bryant’s one-out infield hit.

McCurry, who led the Tigers in home runs this fall with 15, doubled home the third run and scored the fourth — on an infield hit by Shawn Thurman — in Roff’s big first inning.

Although Tupelo — which finished the season 14-21 after losing just two games in each of the past three seasons (spring and fall) — loaded the bases on a hit batter and two walks in the fifth, the Tigers didn’t get their first hit until the sixth, when Nathan Hogue hit a soft two-out liner up the middle off the third Roff pitcher, Ryan Cornell. Hogue’s hit followed a one-out walk to freshman Brandon Maggia, but Roff second baseman Kord Kile ended the threat when he speared a shot up the middle off the bat of Tupelo sophomore Kade Curry and flipped to Parker covering second to retire Hogue.