Black Diamonds blank Stigler

The Sallisaw Black Diamonds baseball team continued its home District 4A-8 domination as they blanked the Stigler Panthers 10-0 in a game that reached run-rule status while the Black Diamonds were still batting with one out in the sixth inning.

Creed Nelson (6-0) threw a five-hitter with five strikeouts.

After a scoreless inning, the Black Diamonds (17-2 overall, 8-0 in district play) got all the run support Nelson needed with a two-run second inning as an RBI double by Brodie Cameron and a two-out RBI single by Kase Adams put Sallisaw ahead 2-0 after two innings.

An RBI fielder’s choice by Nelson scored Luke Pack, who slid across home plate to beat the throw to home from Stigler first baseman Landon Hodges for a 3-0 advantage for the Black Diamonds.

The Panthers (17-3, 5-3) started showing potential signs of getting to Nelson as the first two batters of the fourth inning for Stigler — T.J. Kettles and Cade Eakle — each singled, but Nelson struck out Blake Goff and Hodges hit into a 5-3 double play started by Adams by forcing out Kettles at third base before throwing to first baseman Dagan Grizzle to get Hodges to complete the twin-killing — and, more importantly, maintain Nelson’s shutout.

The big inning for Sallisaw was the fourth inning, and it got started in the best way possible — a solo home run over the left-field fence by Grizzle, his fourth round-tripper of the season, to make it 4-0.

Grizzle’s blast was followed by a two-run triple by Adams and a sacrifice fly by Pack to cap a four-run fourth inning and up Sallisaw’s advantage to 7-0 after four innings.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the Black Diamonds put the game into run-rule status on back-to-back RBI singles by Connor Green and Nelson to make it 9-0. Then, Rylan Eagle’s sacrifice fly, scoring courtesy runner Brodi Nickell, ended the game.

For the contest, Grizzle was 2-for-3 with a double, his fourth homer, two runs scored and a run batted in, Cameron was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, Adams was 2-for-3 with a triple, three RBIs and a run scored, Green was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Broque Oft tripled with a run scored and Nickell and Matthew McGrew each scored a run as a courtesy runner.