It took them a couple of decades and a few near misses, but the DeQuincy Tigers made it over the quarterfinals hump and will play in this week’s high school state baseball tournament.

The Tigers lost in the quarterfinals six times since 2006, and last reached the semifinals in 2001.

“It has been a long time coming,” DeQuincy head coach Brady Carlson said. “I have been to the quarterfinal several times.

“I have been here for 20 years, and we have been to the quarterfinals so many times. The community wanted it. The kids wanted it. It has really been a blessing. The kids are pumped up. The school is pumped. I am very happy for the school and town. I was born and raised here.”

The Tigers (18-11) have won eight consecutive games and 11 of their last 12 since starting the season 7-10. Six of the losses were to teams playing in Sulphur this week.

“They knew one hit here or one play there, it would be a different story,” Carlson said. “In district, a few of those plays started going our way and we started turning the corner. The kids never got discouraged or distracted. They stayed positive the whole time.”

The Tigers have relied heavily on a pair of talented two-way players in seniors Reese Ashworth and Sammy Maddox. Both are batting over .380 and have 30-plus RBIs. Ashworth is 9-1 on the mound with 115 strikeouts in 76 innings. His lone loss was to nonselect Division II semifinalist Iowa the first week of the season. Ashworth led off both playoff games with a home run in the first inning.

The difference of late has been getting more involvement from the rest of the lineup as teams try to work around Ashworth and Maddox. One example is freshman Turner Rodriquez, who is batting .857 in the postseason with four RBIs.

“We finally started getting some clutch hits,” Carlson said. “All year long we have pitched and played pretty good defense.

“Most of our scores when we did lose were very low-scoring games. Finally, some of our other guys who have been needing to hit are starting to turn it around and get some key hits in some key moments. That has been very nice to have some guys come through, especially with runners on base because people have started to pitch around like Reese and Sammy.”

The No. 3 Tigers will face No. 2 Logansport (14-10) in the nonselect Division IV semifinals at 7 p.m. today at McMurry Park in Sulphur. Logansport lost to Grand Lake 11-1 in the Class 1A semifinals last year. The game was originally scheduled for 5 p.m. but had to be pushed back because of thunderstorms the moved through the area early today, delaying the 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. games.

“We have to keep playing the way we have been playing,” Carlson said. “I don’t know much about them. I got a few scouting reports on them. I know they went to the tournament last year and a time or two before, so they have been there and we haven’t.

“I am hoping that our strength of schedule helps us and our confidence and the way we have been playing.”