The Ardmore Cardinals fell to 8-17 following a doubleheader loss to the Lawton Colonels on Wednesday at Valero Park.
The Colonels scored six in the top of the seventh to pull away for a 10-3 victory in game 1. In game 2, Lawton hammered out 13 hits, including five doubles and a homer, to take a 14-1 win.
The Cardinals trailed 3-0 through four in the opener but scored two in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 3-2 game. After the Colonels added one to the lead in the sixth, the six-run seventh, which included a grand-slam home run by Josh Neilson, provided a relatively easy win.
The Cardinals managed a run in the bottom of the frame.
“I thought Layton (Hawkins) did a good job of keeping us in the first game, but we weren’t able to get the run support we needed,” Cardinals coach Jake Melton said. “When we played this team over at Lawton earlier in the year, we went to extra innings before losing to them by a run. But tonight we weren’t able to stay with them.”
Dillon Hargrove (1-4) went the distance and recorded the win. Hawkins fell to 3-3 with the loss.
After a scoreless first, the Colonels (19-16) sent 12 to the plate and plated eight in the top of the second. Price Buckaloo, who started for the Cardinals, made way for Brison Campbell, who finished the inning on the mound. Four of the Colonels’ six hits were doubles in the second.
Campbell gave up five in the remainder of the second and one in the third. At that point, Derek Towler came on in relief to start the fourth.
The Colonels got a couple of bloop singles to start the frame. After scoring one, Kas Sanders hammered a 0-1 offering by Towler over the wall in left for a grand-slam homer — the Colonels’ second of the day. In all the visitors plated five and took a 14-0 lead to the bottom of the inning.
Trevor Raper and Wes Davis both singled for the Cardinals in their half of the inning. Jacob Brecht hit a high-hopper up the middle for a single that scored Raper for the lone Cardinal run.
“We knew going in we were going to throw a number of pitchers because of the tournament starting tomorrow,” Melton said. “They took advantage of the mistakes we made, and they hit the ball well. We just didn’t score runs today like we needed to. Our hitting wasn’t that sharp.
