Norman High baseball: Home run wipes out Tigers momentum in loss to Southmoore

Apr. 2—MOORE — Norman High saw its early momentum slip through its grasp after Southmoore hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning Friday.

The game was delayed 30 minutes in the top of the first inning due to a lightning delay. After giving up an early run, the Tigers found themselves with the bases loaded and one out in the second when Harrison Smith tied the game on an RBI-single.

Norman High would go on to score runs in its next three at-bats to take a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the second. NHS starting pitcher Trace Redwine shrugged off a slow start and retired the next six batters over the second and third innings.

The sophomore stumbled in the fourth, though, giving up a lead-off single followed by a home run from Ryan Gutierrez.

"It just snowballed on us really quick, and then we had trouble finding the zone with the relievers," Norman High head coach Cody Merrell said. "But we had people on all night, we left a lot of runners on tonight. We had people on, we just have to be able to get the hits and bring them in."

Norman High immediately brought in Dax Noles, but the sophomore gave up a hit and five runs while walking four batters before making it out of the inning. Hunter Hayes came in to replace him and gave up a run before getting the final out of the inning.

He retired the next three batters before finding himself in another jam in the sixth inning.

"He loves those situations," Merrell said about Hayes. "We threw him in those situations all the time last year so those don't bother him. He's been thrown in the fire a lot and we'll keep running him out there."

The SaberCats scored one more run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly ball. Then, with a runner on and two outs, Southmoore's Hunter Nunn hit a hard line drive right at Hayes, who only had enough time to turn before the ball struck him hard under the ribs.

Hayes kept his feet and after being checked out by his coaches said he wanted to keep playing. Merrell said he hasn't ever seen the senior as mad as he was in that moment.

"He said he didn't even want any warm-up pitches," Merrell said.

Hayes hit the next batter on the very first pitch, before getting ahead 0-2 in the next count and forcing a fly out. The Tigers got a lead-off walk, but couldn't get anything else going, facing a two-run deficit in the seventh.

"We didn't have quality at bats when we needed them tonight," Merrell said. "And their pitchers did a good job of throwing what was getting called tonight. It was too little too late on our adjustments."

Norman High only had four different players finish the game with a hit. Smith went 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI. Connor Goodson and Simon White each also had RBI-singles. Hayes pitched two innings and allowed one run and three hits with a strikeout and a walk.

The Tigers were walked 10 times and finished with nine runners left on base.

"When you don't do the little things right, they turn into big, bad things," Merrell said. "So hopefully we get back to doing the little things correct and get the ball back rolling in the right direction."

The 9-6 defeat puts Norman High on a three-game losing streak. The Tigers will have a busy week next week starting with a home game against Lawton on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

They'll play two more games during the week before entering the Southern Oklahoma Invitational next weekend.

Tarik Masri is a sports reporter for The Transcript covering OU athletics and area sports. You can reach him by emailing tarik@normantranscript.com