Dover earns spot in state tournament

As a Moss player crossed home plate in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday to put Dover on the brink of elimination, Pete Voth knew there was no need to panic.

“I felt fine,” Voth said. “I knew we still had three-tofour pitchers left to get two wins.”

And, still, when Moss got the first two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh inning of a tie ballgame on Friday, Voth’s confidence in his team remained.

“Sure, that thought came to my mind,” said the Dover coach of his team losing in the seventh inning the day before. “But I still felt like we had solid, fresh pitching, we’d had a lot of traffic on the bases and Moss’ pitcher was running out of gas.

“I felt confident we’d be able to score and hold.”

His confidence was rewarded as Bryce Cockayne pitched himself out of that seventh inning jam, then sparked a three-run frame two innings later to help lead the Dover Longhorns to an 8-5 victory at Stuart.

That locked up a Class B regional runner-up plaque and, more significantly, sent the sixth-ranked Longhorns to this week’s Class B fall state tournament.

It’s the first time since 2010 the Longhorns have qualified for state in the fall. The program hasn’t been to any state baseball tournament since the spring of 2014.

The victory over Moss was Dover’s second win of the day. The Longhorns earlier downed Boswell 12-1 in an elimination game.

Both came after Moss upset the sixth-ranked Longhorns 2-1 Thursday to open the regional.

“I’m beyond proud of not only the boys, but our assistant coaches as well for turning things around so fast,” said Voth, who is in his second year at Dover.

His assistants are Miguel Obeso, a Dover graduate and one-time Major League Baseball draft pick by the Toronto Bluejays, and T.J. Parker, a Kingfisher High School graduate who was a student-teacher at Dover last year before coming on full-time this year.

When Voth arrived in Dover, it was a struggle to fill out a full lineup sheet due to a lack of available bodies.

However, he did see promise in what was there.

“I told the team we had the tools to get to a state tournament when I got here,” Voth said. “But they just needed to believe it.”

Some new additions to the team certainly boosted that probability, but Voth said another sport aided in their belief.

“Getting to the state tournament in basketball last year, I think, made most of them confident in what they were capable of,” Voth said.

That capability showed up in an 11-game win streak after Dover started the season with two losses.

And, as the season progressed, it became evident to Voth that he had the enviable fortune of having depth on the mound.

That was true even in defeats last week.

Casen Buck held Class A’s top-ranked Okarche scoreless in his five innings of work in what turned into 2-1 loss for Dover.

Buck was the hard-luck losing pitcher Thursday against Moss as he only gave up four hits and one earned run over 6 1/3 innings.

That loss meant Dover needed two straight wins on Friday with one of them being a likely rematch against the Pirates.

But first Dover faced Boswell.

The Longhorns got a run quickly in the first and then added four more in the third inning.

Cockayne doubled in two runs and two more scored on an Ivan Ruiz fielder’s choice.

The Longhorns poured it on with five more in the fifth, including a two-run double - again - off the bat of Cockayne.

Trypp Lack held the Scorpions scoreless for three innings, then turned it over to Brennan Fletcher.

He closed it out over the next three frames and only surrendered one unearned run.

Combined, the two pitchers allowed five hits and struck out six.

That gave Dover its rematch with Moss, which was defeated 9-1 by Stuart in Thursday night’s regional championship game.

Voth again turned to Lack, who threw a limited number of pitches against Boswell.

The junior gave Dover four innings before hitting his daily pitch limit.

Lack helped himself with an RBI single to score Buck in the first inning.

The Longhorns made it 3-0 in the third when Cockayne’s single brought home Buck and Brok Cooper.

Cooper’s hit in the fourth scored Ruiz and that was followed by a sacrifice fly by Buck to give Dover a 5-1 advantage.

Lack pitched into the fifth before making way for Fletcher.

Lack gave up four hits, three runs (two earned) and struck out three.

Fletcher got the Longhorns out of the fifth inning, but not before Moss managed to tie the game.

He pitched into the sixth before it was Cockayne’s turn to take the mound.

Cockayne got Dover out of the sixth, but gave up a walk and single to start the seventh inning.

But the senior struck out the next two batters and coaxed a popup to second base to get out of the inning.

Dover got two runners aboard in the eighth, but couldn’t score, but Cockayne delivered a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half of the frame.

The top of the ninth saw him lead off with a double.

Two straight singles moved Cockayne over and then Fletcher’s sacrifice fly sent home Cockayne for the 6-5 lead.

Dover carried out Voth’s belief that the Longhorns were “getting to” Moss pitching and delivered two more hits in the inning.

The second was a tworun single off the bat of Hunter Miller for a threerun lead.

Cockayne did allow the tying run to get to the plate in the bottom of the inning, but got a fielder’s choice and a strikeout to preserve the win.

In addition to being the winning pitcher, Cockayne was 2-for 5 with 2 RBIs and a run scored.

In Friday’s two games, he was 4 of 9 with 6 RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

That’s what Voth had in mind when he dropped Cockayne in the batting order Friday.

“We decided the night before to move him from leadoff to the three-hole based on his batting average with runners in scoring position,” Voth said.

Cooper hit in that leadoff spot and that proved a good move as well. He was 3 for 6 with an RBI and a run scored.

Buck went 1 for 2 with two runs scored and an RBI. He scored five runs the final day.

Lack and Ruiz also had two hits in the decisive game.

Cockayne’s contribution wasn’t just what he provided on the field.

“Bryce stepped up in a huge way last weekend as he has all year,” Voth said. “His leadership has been priceless and he celebrates his teammates’ success more than his own.”

After the final out, all the Longhorns celebrated together as they brought the program its first state tournament appearance in over a decade.

After starting the season 0-2, they’ll enter state with a 22-8 record.

“It’s just a bunch that’s full of tough dudes who have come together as a team,” Voth said.