SHAWNEE — Tanner King has always been a team-first guy.
The sophomore from Red Oak didn’t play fall baseball for the Eagles. But as he was hounded by his teammates to join again, he grabbed his bat and cleats.
“Honestly, we knew he was our missing piece,” Red Oak coach Cody Pair said. “He gives us a lot, you see the spark on offense and defense.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning on Monday, King had his chance again.
In a game that featured multiple lead changes, the Eagles never gave the lead back after King’s RBI single.
As the nine-hole batter, King went 2-for-3 with two RBIs to help third-ranked Red Oak beat top-seeded Canute 7-6 to win its first spring Class A state championship since 2016. Red Oak won its last fall baseball title in 2019.
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“We came here as the underdog,” King said. “And we got the state title. It’s awesome.”
Oklahoma State commit Brex Caldwell struck out eight batters through six innings on 116 pitches.
“I was just trying to get my fastball located,” said Caldwell, a sophomore. “Kind of letting them hit and letting the defense play a little bit. Just try to go out there and throw strikes that’s about it.”
Coby Bell relieved Caldwell in the seventh inning. He struck out the final batter and the Eagles ran for the dogpile near the mound.
“We got beat in the quarters in the Fall and they wore it,” Pair said. “They took it hard because they said we’re going to get better. And our kids have worked tirelessly since Spring to be better hitters. We knew we had a pretty good pitching staff and we knew they could hit but if we could hold them at bay enough to if we could go score we had a chance to win. I’m just proud of our kiddos.”
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Class B: Roff 9, Fort Cobb-Broxton 3
Tallen Bagwell had finally got into a groove.
So in the sixth inning, when there were talks of taking him out, Bagwell insisted he stay in the game.
“I got them,” the junior pitcher from Roff told his coach.
He did.
After starting slow, giving up two runs and two hits, Bagwell turned it on in the final six innings.
Bagwell threw 107 pitches to strike out eight batters and give up just three total hits in seven innings. He led Roff to its fourth consecutive Class B spring state championship — with the exception of the canceled 2020 spring season. Roff also won titles in 2021, 2020 and 2018.
But this title was meant more to the Tigers and that became apparent when they ran full speed to grab the championship trophy before tumbling to the ground behind home plate.
“I’ve been at Roff 15, 16 years and there’s been some amazing things take place,” head coach Danny Baldridge said. “Triple crowns and three in a row, but I think this is the first four in a row. And that was one of our incentives. To go write our own story and this group has done that. These seniors have one six state championships.”
Fort Cobb-Broxton opened the game with two quick runs. Blayke Nunn hit an RBI single and then Brody Devaughan hit one of his own to score a run. But Roff countered with four runs in the second inning to take the lead for good.
Fort Cobb-Broxton tried to battle back in the fifth as Oklahoma commit Jaxon Willits hit an RBI double off the top of the right-field wall to score Blaine Davis. But with runners second and third, the one run was all FCB could manage.
From there, Bagwell took over on the mound as he tallied five of his eight strikeouts after the fifth inning.
“I got off and I was falling away,” Bagwell said, “and I just got in the groove again and started pounding the zone.
Roff then added four more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pad its lead as Beau Joplin hit an RBI double and Dylan Reed hit an RBI single. The other two runs came on wild pitches but it was the pitching performance of Bagwell that secured the win.
“It means a lot,” Bagwell said of the championship. “Everybody knows us and how good we are and we just compete. It feels good.”
James D. Jackson covers high school sports across the Oklahoma City metro and state. Have a story idea for James? He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @JamesDJackson15. Support James’ work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.