By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
The scramble is on.
Yukon went into Monday’s fourth district series needing a win to stay in the hunt for a home field advantage in the regional tournament.
The Millers are now in the scramble for a top four spot.
Edmond Memorial scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to upend the Millers 4-1, in a key District 6A-1 game at Miller Field.
The loss dropped YHS to 4-3 overall in district play (9-10 overall) and into a tie with Memorial for fourth place. Mustang is in third with a 5-3 record, while Norman North lead the district at 7-0 and Edmond North second at 5-2.
YHS and Memorial played their second game of the series late Tuesday and have district series with Edmond North, Putnam City North and Putnam City West remaining.
Memorial pitcher Aaron Webber limited the Millers to only three hits in the game and turned back a pair of Miller scoring chances.
“There is no days off on Mondays and Tuesdays, we have to take care of our business and we didn’t today,” Miller head coach Kevin James said. “We pitched okay today, we just didn’t do a whole lot at the plate. You put the pressure on your pitcher and your defense if you can’t get people in scoring position or on base.
“We have talked about this all year, positive at bats,” he said. “You to find a way to move a runner or be a runner and if we don’t do that we are fighting an uphill battle. We swung it decent in the tournament last week. Today, Memorial’s pitcher was around the zone and we just didn’t hit it.”
The Millers had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning after Braylen Wimmer doubled and advanced to third with no out. But, Webber worked out of the jam by getting the next three batters out.
Memorial added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning on back-to-back RBI doubles from Trace Evans and Coit Morton to open the 4-1 lead.
Memorial had taken a 1-0 lead in the third on an RBI single from Morton after a walk to Cole Emmons.
Yukon tied the game in the third on an RBI single from Carson Benge. Wimmer had singled and stole second before Benge’s hit.
Evans’ RBI single in the fifth inning gave Memorial a 2-1 lead.
“We are not hitting the ball right now, we have talked and talked, but we are in a funk and we need to get out of it,” James said. “It is a lot better when you are swinging the bat. It puts pressure on the defense and when don’t hit the ball. We are not having a lot of positive thoughts at the plate and that is part of our issue right now.
“Josh (Sanders) threw the ball well, they had five hits and had two lead off walks score,” he said. “You have to be able to score some runs for your pitcher, he is not going to shut out teams every time out.”
The Millers went 1-2 in the Jenks/Broken Arrow Tournament this weekend.
The Millers beat Fairview, CO., 9-2 in the opening round, but lost 4-3 to Broken Arrow in nine innings on Friday and fell 15-6 to Bixby on Saturday.
In the loss to Bixby, the Spartans hit five home runs, two from Luke Creeger, who had five runs batted in.
YHS did take a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-RBI double from Benge. But, before the Millers scored again, Bixby reeled off six runs.
The Millers did tie the game on RBI hits from Matt Wilson and Nollan Koon, but gave up seven in the bottom of the seventh.
Broken Arrow’s Alec Cinocca’s walk of single in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Tigers to a 4-3 win over the Millers.
