For five innings, it looked as if Oak Grove baseball was on its way to a statement win. But by the middle of the sixth inning, Petal had completely flipped the script of the game.
But when the final out was recorded, Oak Grove was the one standing in the heavyweight fight between the two 7A rivals.
Behind a dominant outing from Brayden Murphy and a decisive, patient response at the plate, the Warriors withstood a dramatic momentum swing and pulled away late for a 7-4 win over Petal on Tuesday night in a crucial region showdown.
Oak Grove built an early advantage by capitalizing on early opportunities.
The Warriors struck first in the bottom of the first inning, when Mac McDaniel delivered a one-out RBI single to make it 1-0.
They added to it in the third inning with a two-out rally. After recording the first two outs, Eric Booth Jr. reached on an error and quickly moved into scoring position with a stolen base. Oak Grove followed with back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead, and another Petal error allowed a third run in the inning to score, pushing the advantage to 4-0.
That cushion looked more than enough with Murphy on the mound.
“I thought Brayden Murphy came out and set the tone for us,” Oak Grove head coach Chris McCardle said. “Man, he was really, really good for us on the mound.”
Murphy was untouchable through the first five innings of work.
The right-hander commanded three pitches and kept Petal off balance. He retired the first 14 Panthers he faced before issuing a walk in the fifth inning, giving Petal its first baserunner, who was ultimately caught stealing on the next pitch.
His fastball command up in the zone paired with a sharp changeup and slider combination left the Panthers chasing and guessing. For Murphy, he knew coming into the game how he was going to pitch against the Panthers.
“I had seen videos of them,” Murphy said. “I’ve seen them repost all their stuff. I saw their swings, and I told myself I know how I’m going to pitch to them.”
Carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Murphy appeared poised to cruise to the finish line at just 61 pitches thrown.
But Petal had something to say about that.
A walk, an infield single and a bunt single loaded the bases with two outs, bringing Easton Giger to the plate. After an extended at-bat, Giger connected for a grand slam to tie the game at 4-4 and completely shift the momentum.
“It was going good to the sixth,” Murphy said. “And then Easton Giger. Man, what a hitter, winning at-bat too. But changeup was working well, located inside, outside, low, high. That’s just my best pitch.”
McCardle didn’t blame Murphy for giving up the game-tying grand slam; in fact, he took the blame.
“I’m going to take the blame for that,” McCardle said. “I called a couple of wrong pitches there. I knew Giger could hit it out of the park. We didn’t want to walk in a run and then they hit a double or something. We decided to throw a fastball right down the pipe and Giger put a good swing on it. You’ve got to tip your hat to a man like that. A big hit for them.”
Murphy wasn’t happy with McCardle in the dugout after getting the final out of the frame, but McCardle assured him they would give him the ball in the top of the seventh with the lead.
That ended up coming true.
Rather than letting the momentum linger, Oak Grove responded immediately in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Warriors leaned on their patience at the plate, taking advantage of control issues from Petal pitching. Oak Grove drew four walks in the inning, added a hit and was hit by a pitch, manufacturing three critical runs to take back a 7-4 lead.
Murphy went back out in the top of the seventh and gave up a leadoff single before fanning three straight batters, slamming the door on the win.
“I had to do it for my team,” Murphy said. “I love these guys, and me going back out there just shows that we can do anything and we are capable of winning every game. We are the best team in the state.”
In total, Petal issued seven walks and hit three batters, a number that proved decisive in a game where both teams finished with just four hits.
“We’ve got to compete and throw strikes more,” Petal head coach Conner Douglas said. “If you want to make a playoff run, those guys have got to come in and throw strikes. We didn’t tonight. We had way too many free passes. In this kind of game against a really good ball club like Oak Grove, free passes beat you.”
Douglas also credited Murphy’s outing, holding his high-powered offense down for most of the night.
“He was mixing his pitches very well,” Douglas said. “He’d elevate his fastball and we’d chase it. We talked about the approach before the game and knew he stayed up a lot and we’ve got to stay off it. But he pitched a great game and did what he had to do. We kept helping him out by chasing those balls up, but he does a really good job of living up in the zone.”
Murphy’s final line included seven innings pitched, five hits allowed, four earned runs, one walk and seven strikeouts.
With the win, Oak Grove (17-7, 7-2) now sits in position to clinch the No. 1 seed in the region with a win Friday against Petal and a Brandon loss.
Petal (17-11, 5-4), meanwhile, is locked into the No. 4 seed and will not host a playoff series.
The two squads will play again on Friday night in Petal for Game 2 of the series. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
