Ada A's sweep past Blacksox 16U

Jul. 1—The Ada A's American Legion baseball team will enter the Fourth of July break on a high note after sweeping the tradition-rich Burkburnett Blacksox 2025 squad in a steamy doubleheader Wednesday at Ada High School's Cougar Field.

The Post 72 squad improved to 9-8-1 on the season and will return to Cougar Field on July 7-9 for more home games. Times and pairings for that event had not been made available to The Ada News by press time.

The shorthanded A's defeated the Texas squad 4-1 in the opener before pulling away late in a 13-3 victory in Game 2.

"We played well. Going into it, I was wondering how our focus and energy would be because a good chunk of the team was in Harrah for a team football camp. In this heat, I couldn't help but anticipate them dragging a little," Ada A's head coach Morgan Turner told The Ada News.

Turner said he was pleasantly surprised with his bunch.

"I couldn't have been more wrong. They actually seemed to be excited to go, which was nice to see," he said.

Turner said his players got in plenty of good cuts at the plate.

"As a team, we preach to be more aggressive and to attack the fastball early and today was a great example of doing that. I feel like everyone was driving the ball and just doing their part. and not only be aggressive at the plate, but everywhere else," he said.

The A's got a pair of solid pitching performances by Kendon Wood in the opener and JD Dugan in Game 2.

Wood struck out seven, walked two and allowed just one run and three hits through five innings during his mound outing. During the four-inning, run-rule victory in the nightcap, Dugan struck out four, walked one and allowed two earned runs,

"Kendon and JD threw amazingly well in both of their games and really wanted the ball in their hands and just really wanted to compete," Turner said. "And the guys in the field worked behind them and did their part."

Ada's 4, Blacksox 1

The A's got off to a quick start with three runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Keith Cook led off with a base hit and quickly stole second base. Brock Boyles followed with a one-out base hit to center field that put runners at the corners.

Kendon Wood drove in the first run of the contest with an RBI-double and both he and Boyles scored on a run-scoring hit by Cade Stick to put Ada ahead 3-0.

Ryan Shelton delivered a run-scoring single with two outs in the bottom of the third inning to push the Post 72 advantage to 4-0.

The Blacksox spoiled the shutout when Rylee Wallace knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth frame.

The A's collected eight total hits, led by Cook and Eli Justus who both turned in two apiece. Cook finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and Justus went 2-for-2.

Lendon Farrell had two of only three Burkburnett base hits. He also got the pitching start for the visitors. Brayden Marsh tossed two innings of relief for the Blacksox.

Ada A's 13, Blacksox 3

The Ada A's led just 5-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. However, the hosts erupted for eight runs in that frame and the game ended on a walk-off, two-RBI triple by Brayden McGilbray.

Eli Justus added an RBI double in the outburst, which also included run-scoring base hits from JD Dugan, Brock Boyles, Kyler Gaddis and Cade Stick and a walk and a pair of hit batters.

A 10-hit Ada A's offense was led by Ada High products Dugan and Boyles. Dugan finished 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, three RBIs and two runs scored and Boyles ended up 2-for-2 with a walk, three RBIs and a run scored.

Keith Cook finished 1-for-2 with a double and two runs scored for Ada, while McGilbray went 1-for-1 with two walks, his big triple, two RBIs and two runs scored. Eli Justus went 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored and Gaddis finished 1-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored. Ryan Shelton went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored and Stick ended up 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

The Texas team got two hits each from Henry Jones and Austin Whitmire. Kaegan Stevens cracked a double for Burkburnett.

The Blacksox used three hurlers in the game — starter Braylon Smith and relievers Brody Hagle and Adrian Arias.