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The Doenges Ford Indians fell a game short of making the semifinals of the Oklahoma Stan Musial World Series on Thursday evening. 

Bartlesville battled and led early but faltered late in a loss to the Tulsa Sandlot in their final home game of 2024.

Tulsa topped the Indians 7-2.

The Indians gave up two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh, as the Sandlot pulled away to win by five. Tulsa moves on to bracket play of the event today at USAO.  

It was close throughout the first five frames. Bartlesville led 1-0 after three thanks to a clutch single from Eric Olenburger in the first.

However, missed opportunities would be a theme. After Olenburger’s single the Indians did not score any more runs with the bases loaded and no one out. The Tribe also grounded into three double-plays on the evening, each ending a scoring threat.

Matthew Winters got the spot start on the mound, and he was great through three. Back-to-back strikeouts in the second helped stop Tulsa from scoring. 

Sandot had four hits and an Indian error lead to three runs in the fourth when it took the lead for good. The Tribe managed only three hits in the game Olenburger’s RBI single and singles from Luke Fox and Haden Fiddler.

The Indians drop to 20-13-1 on the summer.

Bartlesville will await the official bracket from the Oklahoma State Legion group for the State Legion Tournament, which is slated to begin on Thursday next week.