SHAWNEE — When Fort Gibson’s Jordan Peacock found yet another way to reach base with his team’s season at stake in the top of the seventh inning, it looked like the Tigers had found the most effective left jab in a day of jabs.

“It looked like a break we needed,” he later said on his way to the bus.

One break became two, but unfortunately for the Tigers, neither reaped a reward. Instead, it all ended in a 5-4 loss to Weatherford in the Class 4A baseball quarterfinals at Shawnee High School’s Ed Skelton Field.

Peacock’s grounder to Eagles third baseman Jake Tuck looked like a sure second out of the inning, but the umpire at first base ruled that first baseman Shane Martin came down off the bag after a leaping grab. It marked the fourth time the Tiger junior reached base, having hit safely his first two times up and on via a fielder’s choice later.

Up came Taylor Richey, who earlier in the game walked in back-to-back runs with the bases loaded before moving to third base in the fifth. He got the second break of the inning when his grounder, again at Tuck, was mishandled. After Kacy Cook struck out for the second out of the inning, Billy Waltrip caught an inside pitch on his right arm, loading the bases.

But then, Shane Martin snagged Andrew Arnold’s bouncer wide of the bag and flipped to a Dillon Overton, who came charging off the rubber to grab the toss and end the game.

It was the second time Fort Gibson (25-8) left the bases loaded. They did it in the third when Waltrip struck out, but not before Cook had walked to force in Brandon Jackson. The Tigers left two on in the second when Grant Mitchusson grounded out after Arnold had singled home Peacock, who led off the inning with a double.

Fort Gibson outhit Weatherford 8-6. Weatherford committed five errors to the Tigers’ one.

“We didn’t take advantage of some opportunities we had and we gave them a few more opportunities than we should have,” Fort Gibson coach Randy Smith said. “But it’s like I told these guys just a minute ago, we just hung with a senior-loaded team for seven innings. This may be over, but we really don’t say good-bye to anybody.”

Indeed, the seventh-seeded Tigers made it this far without a senior. Weatherford, 32-8 and seeded second in the bracket to match their No. 2 ranking in 4A by Okrankings.com, has five.

“From everything I heard about them coming in, I knew they were a solid ball club and they showed that today,” Weatherford coach Todd Gaunt said of the 11th-ranked Tigers. “Nobody could get the knockout punch, we just kept coming at each other. There were two good teams out there. We just got some good defensive plays to save us there at the end.”

Not just at the end but in the sixth inning as well. Tuck robbed Robbie Nunez with a diving grab over the bag and forced Mitchusson at second after Mitchusson had been struck by a pitch. Then, to end the inning, Eagles shortstop Jake Barrios went deep in the hole behind second and to his knees to flag Brandon Jackson’s grounder and threw to Martin at first to retire the side.

Fort Gibson never led and had its only tie in the second when Peacock scored on Waltrip’s infield groundout. Richey (7-4) then gave up a leadoff single to Matt Mercer to start the Weatherford second then gave up four walks, two to Sutton Simon and Dillon Overton with two outs. It became 5-2 in the fourth when Overton doubled in James King and Simon. That gave way to Jackson in the fifth, who allowed just two hits in two innings of work.

The Tigers cut it to 5-4 when Richey’s sacrifice fly scored Parnell, who had singled to right to start the fifth, and Cook’s infield groundout scored Peacock, who reached on an fielder’s choice.

Weatherford, seeking its first state title since 2003, returns here tonight to play McGuinness in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal.