The McAlester Buffaloes baseball team faced a tough district test this week, dropping a pair of games to the formidable Bishop Kelley Comets and suffering their first district losses of the season.

On Monday, the Buffaloes (11-13, 6-2) traveled to Tulsa, where they fell 12-2 to the Comets (16-4, 8-0) in a game ended early by the run rule. The home field didn't provide much relief on Tuesday, as McAlester hosted Bishop Kelley and lost 12-3 in a full seven-inning contest.

While acknowledging the Comets' strength, Head Coach Justin Mullins pointed to self-inflicted errors as the primary cause for the losses. "It was self-induced," Mullins said. "We didn't do a very good job competing in the zone, we didn't make plays, we didn't get the timely hits. They're a good club and you can't give them a lot of things because they'll take advantage of it."

The back-to-back defeats represent a significant shift in the district standings. The Buffaloes entered the week tied for the best record in Class 5A-4 and led on district points. Now, they find themselves in third place, looking up at Bishop Kelley and Coweta.

Despite the setback, the team's core goal—finishing in the top two to host a regional—remains within reach. "Obviously that hurts us in winning the district," Mullins admitted, "but it puts us in a good line that if we win out the rest of the way, we're going to finish second and host a regional, which is what we want."

The focus now turns to cleaning up the fundamentals. "Hopefully they learned that we can beat anybody if we want to," Mullins stated, emphasizing that beating quality teams requires eliminating walks and errors. The Buffaloes will look to bounce back and apply those lessons when they host Hugo at 7 p.m. Thursday in the opening game of the Mike Deak Shootout.