Oklahoma high school baseball: Oktaha, Preston, Cashion, Dale advance to Class 2A semis

SHAWNEE — The 2024 Class 2A Oklahoma high school baseball quarterfinals were held Thursday at Shawnee High School.

There were two weather delays, but all four games were played. The semifinals are set for Friday before the championship Saturday.

Here are recaps from each quarterfinal game.

More: Oklahoma high school baseball: Class 6A-2A state tournament schedule, scores

Oktaha 10, Central Sallisaw 0 (five innings)

Oktaha made a resounding statement in its opening game at the state tournament.

Sophomore pitcher Nicolas Tolbert didn't allow a hit and top-ranked Oktaha's offense backed up his performance with a productive day as it defeated No. 26 Central Sallisaw 10-0 in five innings, advancing to a semifinal game against Preston that is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Tolbert hit one batter and didn't have any walks while striking out two.

Senior Canyon Elam had a game-high three hits, while junior Mason Pickering had two hits and led Oktaha (30-3) with four RBIs. Senior Kale Testerman also had a solid day, finishing with two hits and one RBI, while junior Braxton Casey had one hit and two RBIs.

"I just thought we had a good approach all day as a whole," Oktaha coach Kevin Rodden said. "All of our guys, we talked about it all week long, we thought they'd try to go soft, firm and try to change it up velocity wise trying to keep us off balance and I thought we did a good job with our approach."

Rodden in his 11th year at Oktaha, which has never won a spring baseball state title, but he has history with Central Sallisaw (18-16).

"I was at the school over there 14 years before I got here and my assistant was there seven, so we spent 21 years in that dugout and now we're over here," Rodden said.

"So it's kind of bittersweet. I know a lot of the kids out there. My daughter went to day care with their shortstop. It's kind of bittersweet, but I told our guys, 'We just got to take care of business. It doesn't matter who we're playing, who's in the other dugout. We just do what we do every day and it'll take care of itself.'"

Preston 4, Wister 3 

Preston sophomore Hunter McElhannon knows good things can happen when hitters just put the ball in play.

With that in his mind, he stood in the batter’s box against Wister with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the game tied, and although he didn’t necessarily square up senior Landon Donaho’s pitch, McElhannon delivered an effective swing.

McElhannon’s hit slowly rolled along the third-base line before Donaho went over to pick it up, but it was too late.

Senior Kellen Dean was already crossing home plate and McElhannon was reaching first, and there wasn’t anything the pitcher could do.

The play sealed a 4-3 victory for Preston as the fifth-ranked Pirates advanced to a semifinal matchup against Oktaha that is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday in Shawnee.

“We haven’t been to a second round in a long time,” McElhannon said. “We’re just looking forward to tomorrow.”

Preston (26-3) trailed 3-0 against Wister (23-7), which is ranked No. 4, heading into the bottom of the fourth but scored three runs in the frame to tie it.

In the seventh, Preston had two straight singles with two outs.

Junior Noah Wilson had a hit that blooped inside the first base line on the infield dirt that got Dean from first to third before McElhannon delivered the walk-off.

“I was just trying to put it in play,” he said.

Cashion 11, Latta 3 

Cashion wasted no time in jumping on Latta.

The third-ranked Wildcats had a monster first inning as they scored eight runs and cruised from there as they beat Latta 11-3, advancing to a semifinal game against Dale that is set for 4 p.m. Friday in Shawnee.

Seniors Cooper Frazee and Derek Sheline led Cashion (31-5) offensively as they each had three hits. Frazee had a game-high three RBIs, while Sheline drove in two.

Sophomore Gestin Pollard started on the mound for sixth-ranked Latta (23-9) and Cashion did extremely well against him, tallying four hits and six runs before he was pulled with no outs in the first inning.

“We’ve been struggling hitting balls to the right side, so we all week have been working on that, all week long,” Sheline said. “I feel like it finally kind of came around for us, hits started falling like they weren’t last week and we were just hitting on the pitches that we needed to.”

Senior Hunter Gibson started on the mound for Cashion and went 1 ⅓ innings, allowing three runs and three hits. Sophomore Brody Nichols was excellent in relief, tossing the rest of the game and allowing just four hits and no runs.

“They got a really tough lineup,” Cashion coach Blake Mounce said. “To give up three runs to that lineup, I’m pretty proud of our pitching staff.”

Cashion has been at the state tournament in each of Sheline’s seasons at the school.

The Wildcats have never won a state title in baseball, but Sheline and his teammates hope to change that.

“I think it’s definitely a stronger team,” Sheline said. “I think don’t count us out too early.”

Dale 9, Panama 3  

Dale understood Panama senior ace Brex Caldwell presented a challenge.

An Oklahoma State signee, Caldwell is a hard thrower and imposing right-hander on the mound.

But Dale, historically one of the best programs in Class 2A, didn’t back down.

In fact, the Pirates thrived.

Second-ranked Dale frustrated Caldwell in his four innings on the bump and went on to roll to a 9-3 victory against No. 8 Panama, advancing to a semifinal matchup against Cashion that will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in Shawnee.

Junior starting pitcher Jack Rooker had a stellar day for Dale (27-4), tossing 6 ⅔ innings against the Razorbacks (26-6) and allowing just three hits and three runs, and the Pirates’ offense supported him with a productive showing.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today, but hey, it still worked,” Rooker said.

Senior Ethan Douglas got Dale on the scoreboard in the second inning with a two-RBI double before Caldwell walked in three runs later in the frame, and the Pirates added two more runs in the third on a balk and passed ball.

Junior Jett Higdon hit a sacrifice fly for Dale in the fifth, and freshman Braylon White had an RBI double in the sixth.

“Brex Caldwell, he’s a stud,” Dale coach Jimmy Harris said. “He’s going to OSU, and he’s going to do great things. And we had a lot of respect for him.

“We got to practice this week, several times we cranked that pitching machine up and we were trying to just do our very best to be ready for velocity, and I thought the boys did a pretty good job of that today. Did a pretty good job of making his pitch count elevate.”

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma HS baseball: Oktaha, Preston, Cashion, Dale advance