By BRAD HURT ~ DAR Sports Writer

DONIPHAN -- In a rematch of last fall's Ozark Foothills Conference championship game, Doniphan got its revenge, using a five-run rally in the sixth inning to knock off Twin Rivers 6-4 Thursday.

After struggling against Royals starter Dylan Stockton for most of the game, the Dons took advantage of some Twin Rivers mistakes and came up with clutch hits in the sixth to dig themselves out of a 4-1 hole.

"It was a battle and we knew it was going to be a battle from the last time we played them in the OFC championship game when they beat us," Doniphan coach John Mark Merriman said.

Logan Smith reached on a walk to get the sixth inning started for the home team, and a walk and error followed to load the bases with no outs. Dalton Pennington's single drove Smith home with the first run, and after a single by starting pitcher Curtis Keeney tied the game at 4-4, Zack Swindle pushed across the go-ahead run with a groundout.

"We got ourselves in a hole," Merriman said. "Luckily we had some people step up. Curtis Keeney stepped up. Russ Miller came through for us and got us going and then we just kept going on that."

Miller provided the goahead run as a pinch-runner.

After coasting through the early innings, Stockton encountered control problems as he walked the first two hitters of the inning. After allowing three runs on three hits and striking out six, he gave way to Ryan Tompkins without recording an out in the sixth.

"We had one bad inning there on the hill. Maybe Dylan got tired a little bit. I thought he was OK because he cruised through that inning before," Twin Rivers coach Jeff Null said.

Null said the loss was simply the result of his team not playing up to its potential.

"We weren't aggressive enough at the plate," he said. "Dylan threw a heck of a game, and I felt bad for him that we couldn't finish it. We just didn't play a very good ballgame."

The Royals' lack of aggression at the plate could be seen in their total of five called strikeouts, out of a total of 12. The Royals scored all of their runs in the fifth inning, aided by a pair of walks and a trio of Doniphan errors. After Cody Russom was thrown out trying to steal second, Garrett Stockton walked and went to third on a wild throw. Stockton singled to drive in his brother. Jordan Fowler followed with a walk, and a series of wild pitches moved him and Stockton around to score on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Zoll and another Doniphan error, respectively.

"They gave us a little bit of a chance," Null said. "I'm sure they had a little motivation to get back at us and they played a better ballgame today."

Keeney left the game with a no-decision after four innings, in which he struck out seven and allowed only one hit. Brock Johnson pitched 1 2/3 innings to earn the win in relief. Logan Smith recorded the final two outs for the save.

"We were trying to get everybody at least an inning because we play tomorrow night and again on Monday," Merriman said. "You've got to have some pitching in this league. It's good to have Logan Smith come back after elbow surgery, good to have him come in and close it out."