The atmosphere was electric as the Duncan Demons baseball team went for their own Southern Oklahoma Invitational tournament title, but finished as runner-up after falling in an extra-inning game to highly ranked Ft.Cobb-Broxton.
After the Demons jumped out to a huge lead in the early part of the game, the Mustangs fought back and ended up getting eight runs in the top of the ninth to take the 16-8 victory over Duncan.
Facing against one of the best pitchers in the state who is committed to play for the Sooners, Duncan got to him early and often with the Demons scoring five in the bottom of the second.
Korbin Hammack, after a double from Peyton Roberson, hit a bloop single to left field to score the first run against the pitcher to take the 1-0 lead over the Mustangs.
Two walks later and still two outs, Blake Barnard hit a loud double to the centerfield wall that nearly made it out of the park to clear the bases and give Duncan the 4-0 lead over Ft. Cobb.
Chago Barham wasted little time to bring Barnard in with a single to centerfield to put Duncan up 5-0 after two innings of play.
The Mustangs got one run back in the top of the third, however Duncan’s offense picked up right where it left off with another double from Roberson to get Duncan back into scoring position.
Two batters hit in a row loaded the bases before catcher Jackson Poage came up and hit a double to centerfield to drive in two and take the 7-1 lead over the Mustangs.
Back to the top of the lineup, Bryson Brooksher hit a single to right to drive in Hammack to put Duncan up 8-1 with both teams fighting the next several innings.
Ft. Cobb scored six runs in the top of the fourth, however the Demons walked the tight rope out of danger to leave the lead at 8-7 after a popout and strikeout left runners stranded.
Duncan had to fight with the bases loaded again in the top of the fifth, however Chase Hightower came in and held his own on the mound to keep the score at 8-7 until the top half of the seventh.
Getting two quick outs and one out away from getting the victory, Ft. Cobb hit a triple to keep the game going and a single drove in the game tying run to send the game into extra innings.
Duncan tried to end the game in the bottom half of the eighth inning as Roberson hit a triple but was left stranded 90 feet away as the Mustangs got the outs needed to keep the game tied.
With the game still tied in the top of the ninth, the Mustangs offense charged in and scored eight runs, leaving Duncan needing nine in the bottom of the ninth for the victory.
Brooksher started off with a loud double to left, however the Mustangs secured the final two outs to take the victory and push Duncan to 14-4 on the season.
Duncan returned to district action this week to host Elgin on April 11. They will play the series finale at 5 p.m. April 12 at Elgin High School.
A full recap of the district series against Elgin will appear in the Thursday edition of The Duncan Banner.