Oklahoma team captures Great Plains Shootout

By Chris Marshall

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

In the past week, Oklahomans have made a habit of going into other states and upsetting sports fans.

First, Kevin Durant and the Seattle Sonics packed up and left for Oklahoma City. Now, some of the state's top high school baseball players have something else to celebrate after coming to Kansas and winning the Great Plains Shootoutchampionship.

Despite being the only team from Oklahoma in a field loaded with Kansas and Missouri entrants, the Sooner state came out on top, beating the Johnson County Hornets 5-3 Sunday at Washburn's Falley Field.

"It's big for our guys to win here," manager Rick Glasser said. "Five of these kids we brought up for the tournament are still in high school, so beating all these teams that have players going to college (next school year) is pretty tough to do."

Oklahoma's Austin Dean drove in two runs with a double to right field in the fifth inning, breaking open a game that was tied 2-2 and earning MVP honors in the championship.

Dean came through again in the seventh, notching his third RBI with a sacrifice fly, and providing Oklahoma an insurance run heading into the last half-inning.

"I've been hitting well these past few days," Dean said. "But any one of us could have won MVP in most of these games."

Third baseman Brayden Brumley won that honor twice in the early rounds, and later was named MVP of the tournament. In the first inning, he drove in Oklahoma's first run and managed to reach base in all four of his plate appearances.

"Brayden's just been hitting the ball all over the field throughout this tournament," Glasser said. "He was a junior last year, so he'll be doing this for us again next season."

That may be bad news for the tournament host Topeka Stars and other Kansas teams who enter every year. At the same time, the addition of teams like Oklahoma, which never had played in the Shootout, and three teams from Texas shows the 20-team tournament's popularity is spreading.

"The main idea is exposure for the players," said Stars manager Frank Magee, whose team was eliminated Saturday by the Lubbock Hubbers. "A lot of scouts show up, especially for the games at K- State. We get as many as 75 colleges coming to watch some of these guys play."

Recent MLB draftees Rob Musgrave and Shawn Joy played on past Topeka Stars teams, and current players hope to benefit from playing in front of large tournament crowds at Washburn, K-State and Hummer Sports Park.

"It's not very often that you get a lot of guys together on the same team that are drafted, like we did," Magee said. "But there are some pretty talented players out here that will go on to play college ball next year."

One of those players is Oklahoma's Kyle Ebert. In addition to throwing three innings before giving up a hit, the pitcher reached first base on bunts two different times, had an RBI in the second inning and later stole second base.

Oklahoma never trailed, but its early 2-0 lead disappeared when the Hornets loaded the bases in the fourth and scored twice to draw even. The bases were loaded again with two outs for all-tournament selection Harrison Cobb. He lined a ball down the right foul line, but Oklahoma first baseman Chris Williams snagged the ball while falling backwards to get Ebertout of the jam.

Dean's drive in the next half-inning restored Oklahoma's two-run margin, and it wasn't until the bottom of the seventh that Johnson County got back on the scoreboard.

Cobb singled with two outs and scored with two runners still on base. However, a fly ball to left field ended the Hornets' late rally and gave Oklahoma the win.

"I'm glad we held on to our lead at the end there," Dean said. "It would've been a long drive home if we didn't win this championship."

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