The Dewar Dragon varsity baseball team will make their third-straight state tournament appearance this Thursday after capturing the Class A regional championship Sunday evening at Wiley Ryal Park in Dewar.

In order to punch their latest ticket to the Class A state baseball championships, the Dragons needed to win three-straight games in a little more than 24 hours at the Class A regional baseball tournament.

Dewar began their journey towards the regional championship last Friday afternoon with a 15-5 victory over the Fletcher Wildcats in an opening-round contest in Dewar. The regional tournament, which was pushed back one day due to wet field conditions, was moved to Seminole State College on Saturday after a pair of bouts of heavy rainfall on Friday during the other opening-round game between Okarche and Drummond, forced Friday’s regional tournament action to be postponed one more day.

Saturday’s regional tournament action kicked off with the conclusion of the Okarche-Drummond first round contest – won by Okarche by a 12-2 margin.

The 13th-ranked Warriors then handed Dewar its first loss of the postseason in Saturday’s winner’s bracket semifinal contest – an 11-1 setback in five innings.

After Drummond ended Fletcher’s season with a 13-5 decision in the loser’s bracket semifinals, the Dragons sent the 20th-ranked Bulldogs home for the season in the loser’s bracket finals with an 18-0, run-rule, victory.

The shutout win over Drummond kept the Dragons’ state tournament bid alive with Dewar needing to defeat Okarche twice in Dewar on Sunday in order to punch their ticket to the Big Dance for a third-straight season.

In Sunday’s first contest, the Dragons forced a ‘Winner Take All’ game by defeating Okarche by a 9-6 margin, then finished the 3-game win streak with a 9-3 win over the Warriors in the Class A regional championship game.

Dewar (ranked 4th in Class A) is scheduled to kick off its third-straight state tournament appearance Thursday at 1:30 p.m. against fifth-ranked Wright City at Edmond North High School.

A win over the Lumberjax will put the Dragons into Friday’s semifinal round at 11 a.m. against the winner of Thursday’s opening-round meeting between top-ranked Rattan and 8th-ranked Caddo at Edmond North High School.

The Class A state championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

In last Friday’s opening-round win over Fletcher, the visitors opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the first on a 2-run home run by Harrel.

The Dragons began their scoring in the bottom of the second, erupting for eight runs in the frame for an 8-2 advantage after two innings of action.

After Fletcher made it an 8-3 contest with a run in the top of the third, the host Dewar squad plated six runs in the home half of the inning to extend its lead to 14-3, then added an insurance run in the fourth to make it a 15-3 contest.

Fletcher tallied two runs in the top of the fifth, but was unable to avoid the run-rule loss, as Dewar walked off its home field with the 15-5 decision.

Skelly Taylor went the distance on the mound for Dewar to earn the pitching win. Taylor gave up five runs on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks in five innings of work.

The Dragons scattered six hits in the run-rule win, led by Taylor with a 3-run home run in the 6-run third.

The other Dewar base hits against Fletcher came on singles by Jeron Brison, Christian Cargola, and Tryton Mack, an RBI single by Ashton Hawkins, and a 2-run double by Aidan Tomlinson.

In Saturday’s semifinal battle with Okarche, the lone Dewar run came in the top of the second.

Okarche began the scoring with five runs in the bottom of the first, then added a run in the home half of the second for a 6-1 advantage. The Warriors put the finishing touches on the run-rule decision with five runs in the last of the fifth, handing Dewar its first loss of the postseason, 11-1.

Jeron Brison was tops offensively for the Dragons in the loss, finishing 2 for 3 with a pair of singles.

The other Dewar base hits against Okarche came on singles by Christian Cargola and Jonathan Wilson and an RBI single by Ashton Hawkins.

Zack Mullen was saddled with the pitching loss on Saturday, allowing five runs on three hits with two strikeouts, one walk, and one hit batter in two-thirds of an inning of work.

Case Griffin worked the next 4-plus innings in relief, giving up six runs on seven hits, striking out two, walking two, and hitting a batter.

Jacob Paden faced two batters in relief in the fifth, walking one, while JoJo Waters gave up a base hit to the only batter he faced in his relief appearance in the fifth.

In Saturday’s loser’s bracket finals against Drummond, the Dragons put the game out of reach in the bottom of the first, erupting for 12 runs in the frame. The Dewar squad added three in each of the second and third innings for an 18-0 advantage.

The Dewar defense kept Drummond off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth innings to walk away with the 18-0 victory.

Case Griffin worked three innings of relief to earn the pitching win for Dewar. Griffin struck out one in his three no-hit innings of relief, taking over on the mound for starter Ashton Hawkins, who struck out one and walked one in two no-hit innings of work.

The Dewar offense was led by the quartet of Aidan Tomlinson (2 for 2, single, triple, 2 RBIs), Christian Cargola (2 for 4, single, double, 2 RBIs), Jonathan Wilson (2 for 3, 2 singles, 2 RBIs), and Skelly Taylor (2 for 2, double, triple, 2 RBIs) with two hits apiece.

The final four hits for the Dragons in the shutout win came on a single by Jeron Brison, double by Tryton Mack, RBI single by Zack Mullen, and 2-run single by Jaden Maxwell.

In Sunday’s first meeting with Okarche, the Dragons kicked off the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first. The Dewar squad doubled their lead to 2-0 with a run in the home half of the third, then added three in the fourth and four in the fifth for a commanding 9-0 advantage after five innings of action.

Okarche broke up the Dragons’ shutout bid with five runs in the top of the sixth to make it a 9-5 contest with one and one-half innings of regulation remaining.

After the Dewar offense was unable to increase its lead in the bottom of the sixth, the Dragon defense allowed the Warriors just one run in the top of the seventh to force a ‘Winner Take All’ championship game with the 9-6 victory.

Aidan Tomlinson was awarded the pitching win for Dewar, allowing three runs on three hits with eight strikeouts, two walks, and one hit batsman in 5-plus innings of work.

Zack Mullen worked the final two innings of relief for the Dragons, giving up three runs on four hits, while striking out four.

Skelly Taylor was the top offensive performer for Dewar in the narrow win, finishing 2 for 2 with a single, double, and RBI.

The other Dragon base hits against Okarche came on a single by Christian Cargola and 2-run home run in the third by Aidan Tomlinson.

In Sunday’s regional championship game, Okarche broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the third then added two runs in its half of the fourth for a 3-0 advantage.

The Dragons broke onto the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, then took over the lead at 5-3 with three runs in the home half of the fifth.

A 4-run sixth extended the Dewar lead to 9-3 with one inning remaining in regulation.

The Dewar defense kept the Warriors off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh with the final out coming on a groundout to second, awarding the host Dewar Dragons the 9-3 victory, the regional championship, and a third-straight state tournament appearance.

The Dewar offense was limited to just six base hits in the regional title game, led by Jaden Maxwell, who went 2 for 4 with a pair of singles and 2 RBIs.

The other four Dragon base hits in the title contest came on singles by Jeron Brison and Tryton Mack, an RBI single by Jonathan Wilson, and Grand Slam home run by Zack Mullen in the sixth.

Mullen was awarded the pitching win for Dewar, allowing two runs on one hit with six strikeouts in four and one-third innings of relief work.

Mullen took over for starter Aidan Tomlinson, who gave up one run on four hits, striking out four and walking one in two and two-third innings of work.

— Class A Regional Tournament First Round

Dewar 15, Fletcher 5

Fletcher:2-0-1-0-2 5-6-2 Dewar: 0-8-6-1-x 15-6-2 WP: Skelly Taylor LP: Alcantar HR: Fletcher: Harrel; Dewar: Skelly Taylor — Semifinals

Okarche 11, Dewar 1

Dewar: 0-1-0-0-0 1-5-4 Okarche: 5 – 1 – 0 – 0 – 5 11 – 11 – 0 WP: Roby LP: Zack Mullen HR: Okarche: Mueggenborg — Loser’s Bracket Finals Dewar 18, Drummond 0 Drummond:0-0-0-0-0 0-0-3 Dewar: 12 – 3 – 3 – 0 – x 18 – 12 – 3 WP: Case Griffin LP: Arnold HR: None — Championship #1

Dewar 9, Okarche 6

Okarche:0-0-0-0-0-5-1 6-7-2 Dewar: 1-0-1-3-4-0-x 9-4-3 WP: Aidan Tomlinson LP: Carnott HR: Dewar: Aidan Tomlinson — Championship #2

Dewar 9, Okarche 3

Okarche:0-0-1-2-0-0-0 3-5-2 Dewar: 0-0-0-2-3-4-x 9-6-3 WP: Zack Mullen LP: Hendrickson HR: Dewar: Zack Mullen