doenges toyota indians drop three games over the weekend; start winget thursday
Doenges Toyota Indians second baseman Kael Siemers looks to first base during an earlier season game. The Indians dropped thee games to the RB
Natives over the weekend.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
July 1, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Going to battle without some of its regulars, the Bartlesville Doenges Toyota Indians scrapped through tough weekend baseball outings.
Next up, the Indians eye another busy week, including the 66th Annual Glen Winget Tournament, set to start on Thursday (July 3) on Rigdon Field in Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium.
Following are some of the details of this past weekend’s action at the Doenges diamond palace.
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RBI NATIVE 14, BARTLESVILLE INDIANS 2
After giving up a six-spot in the top of the first, Bartlesville faced a slippery slope to try to pull even.
The Indians scrapped valiantly but just didn’t generate the lift needed to push RBI native.
Zane Stricklin and Bryce Luelf each scored on a ball put in play by Jaxon Zaun to record the Indians’ runs.
Bartlesville kept clawing away to the end.
Grant Clark ripped a two-out single in the third inning but remained stranded. Zaun started the bottom of the fourth with a single and was joined on base by Chris Dum. But a doubleplay closed the door on the rally.
The Indians went down in order in the bottom of the fifth to wrap up the run-rule loss on Saturday night.
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Bartlesville Doenges Toyota Indians first baseman Brenden Asher looks to the catcher during an earlier season game. The Indians dropped three games to RBI Native over the weekend.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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RBI NATIVE 7, BARTLESVILLE INDIANS 2
In the first game Saturday, Bartlesville remained within striking distance pretty much the entire way, thanks largely to some strong pitching by Lathe Griggs and Zane Griggs.
But missing some of its best offensive players, Bartlesville struggled to put together any big innings.
RBI Native led through the first inning, 2-0. In the bottom of the fifth, the Indians struck for their first run when Stricklin swiped home on a double steal in conjunction with Clark.
The Indians trailed by only a run through three innings, 2-1, and three runs at the end of the fourth, 4-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, Luelf drove home Clark to cut RBI Native’s lead in half, 4-2.
But that ended Bartlesville’s scoring.
In fact, the Bruins suffered a no-hitter.
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RBI NATIVE 13, BARTLESVILLE INDIANS 6
In Friday’s series opener, the Indians trailed by only three runs going into the fifth. But, RBI Native finished with a flurry of scoring.
The Indians scored twice in the bottom of the first. Hunter Shea reached base on a free pass and came around on a bunt single by Zaun and an error. Late in the inning, Stricklin belted a single to plate Zaun and tie the score, 2-2.
Luelf drove home Stricklin in the fourth inning for Bartlesville’s third run. But the Indians Zane Griggs (running for Sam Marcella) and Stricklin stranded in scoring position. They also left the bases loaded in the sixth.
But in the bottom of the seventh, the Indians struck for three more runs, including RBI’s by Owen Dum and Liam Buchanan. That uprising trimmed RBI Native’s lead to three runs, 9-6, in the scheduled nine-inning game.
RBI Native answered with four runs in the top of the eighth to put the margin out of reach on this particular night.