High school baseball: Dale advances to Class A final at Bricktown Ballpark

And to top it off, Xavier Lanham scored the game's winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth.

“That's just how baseball is,” Dale coach Jerry Sanford said. “You've got to sometimes be lucky, and that's what we were today. But sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Hopefully, we'll build on this and have a little better day tomorrow and see what happens.”

Dale plays the winner of Sterling and Latta at noon Saturday in Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in hopes of winning its second straight fall championship and ninth overall.

But getting back to the championship game has not been easy this state tournament.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning with two runners on, Sanford turned to ace pitcher and Ole Miss commit Evan Anderson to work out of the jam.

Anderson, though, hit Casey Love to load the bases before Lucas Long lofted a fly ball to right field that tied the game when Jace Wilkins dropped the ball.