Oklahoma Class 5A baseball: Duncan gets it done, defeating Piedmont for program's first state championship

Duncan head coach Grant Oliver wins the title in his first season.

By Buck Ringgold 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Grant Oliver took over as Duncan's baseball coach over the summer, being promoted after serving as an assistant.

In just one season, Oliver did something no Demon coach did before him ever achieved – winning a state championship.

On a steamy Saturday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, that feat was realized. Duncan scored four runs in the top of the first, then built a 7-0 second-inning lead and never looked back in a 15-4 six-inning run rule win against Piedmont for the 5A title.

"It's amazing; first year doing it," Oliver said. "The boys bought in back in December and they accepted the challenge every single day from December 1 until (Saturday).

"A lot of people didn't believe in them, but I just asked them to believe in their selves from the start and they bought in."

The Demons (29-7) won Thursday's quarterfinal game against Bishop Kelley with a pitcher's duel, 2-0. Friday, they won a slugfest against Collinsville, scoring 17 runs.

It was more of the same on Saturday, as the Demons jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Trevyn Stewart and Kenny Garland had RBI hits, and Eli Ramirez added a sacrifice fly.

"This team, we've done that all year," said Stewart, one of 10 Demon seniors. "We've came out and punched them as soon as the first pitch was thrown, and that was no different (Saturday).

"We were ready; we got in there, got what pitch we liked and we hit it."

Stewart then added two more RBIs on a triple in the second, as Duncan built a 7-0 advantage.

"Always this whole year, we've been able to score runs and we've known that," Stewart said. "Thursday, we ran into a pretty good arm with Bishop Kelley, he was legit, but we knew (Saturday) that we were going to get an arm that we could hit.

"We also knew we only used two pitchers up until this game, so we knew we had arms, too."

Piedmont (32-9) made a slight charge, scoring a run in the bottom of the second and two more in the third to cut Duncan's lead to four, 7-3. But the Demons swiped momentum right back with one swing of the bat.

On a two-strike count with two outs in the top of the fourth, freshman Preston Giles drilled a double down the line in left, scoring a pair of runs.

"I was just thinking, I was down in the count, just go two-strike approach, hit into the ball and it worked," Giles said. "That's what you've got to do, especially when you're down in the count, so it was real nice."

Duncan then put the game away with another crooked number; this time scoring six runs in the top of the sixth.

"It's been the story of this team all year," Oliver said. "We've created big innings on our own, and a lot of times they were because of us and not because other people gave it to us.

"It was special just to be able to do it in the final game the way we've done it all year long, so that was awesome."

Duncan had three players with multi-hit games.

Tully Booth went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Giles was 2-for-3 and Stewart was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, scoring two more runs.

Ramirez was the winning pitcher in relief, coming on in the fourth inning and going the rest of the way. He allowed two hits and struck out three. Blake Barnard, the starter, finished with seven strikeouts.

For Piedmont, Dalton Hampton went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Noah Smith also was 2-for-3.