By Don Ketchum

At Yukon (Okla.) High School, alma mater of country music star Garth Brooks, they do more than just pick and grin.

They pitch, hit and play defense. That creates a successful baseball program.

It was on display in the Best of the West Tournament at Peoria Sunrise Mountain High.

The Millers lost their first two games of the tournament, but battled back to reach the championship game on Wednesday. They were patient, breaking through for four runs in the top of the seventh for a 4-0 victory over Sunrise Mountain and took the tournament title back home with them on their big white bus gliding down Interstate 40.

Yukon raised its record to 6-2 overall and was 4-2 in the tournament. Sunrise Mountain fell to 9-2.

“I like to call us a scrappy team,’’ said Yukon coach Kevin James. “We get guys on base, do what we need to do.

“We had to be patient. Both sides were pitching well and making the plays on defense. We were hitting balls right at them.’’

By the last day of the tournament arrives, most of the pitching is exhausted. With the teams on Wednesday, it was difficult to tell. Yukon left-hander Dustin Gibson and Sunrise Mountain right-hander Trey Palacios, probably at least No. 3 or No. 4 on their teams, staged a scoreless duel for six innings.

Sunrise Mountain had been put in a bind when it lost No. 1 pitcher Aaron Bummer in its semifinal win over Goodyear Millennium. He suffered a slight fracture of his ankle/leg while running the bases, but Mustangs coach Eric Gardner hopes to have him back in about four weeks, in time for the playoffs.

In the top of the seventh, Yukon scored four runs. A base hit by Hunter Meyn brought home the first run, a bases-loaded walk to Gustavo Escobar forced in the second run and Colt Pickens added the finishing touches with a two-run double down the right-field line.

Gardner said Palacios “did an unbelievable job, a phenomenal job. Their kid (Gibson) did just a little better job. We hit too many fly balls.’’

Gibson got the first out of the Sunrise Mountain seventh on a fly ball. He walked Adam Webb and James called on Gibson’s brother, Kyle, a right-hander, to shut the door. Kyle Gibson got the second out on a fielder’s choice grounder, walked a man and then got another fielder’s choice to end it.