The Eagles baseball team swept Oklahoma Panhandle State University on Thursday and Friday with the help of a late-game rally and consistent hitting.
The three-game series moved forward one day to avoid the weekend’s chance of rain, according to catcher Lane Paul. Infielder Ben McKenzie said the rescheduling didn’t affect the team other than pitching “didn’t get as much rest.”
Despite 21-mph winds pushing against the batters in Thursday’s first game, Austin Orth, Alex Polston and Zac Cobble scored in the third inning to build the Eagles’ lead. The Aggies recorded two runs in the fourth and sixth innings, but couldn’t catch up with Oklahoma Christian University by the game’s end and lost 3-2.
The Aggies rallied against the Eagles in an attempt to make a comeback during Thursday’s second game. They scored twice in the first inning and twice more in the fifth, leading the Eagles 4-1 after Oklahoma Christian’s Derek Jones scored in the third.
Polston hit a two-RBI double to left field in the seventh inning, sending home Cobble and Matthew Foster. The Aggies pulled away with two runs in the eighth and lead 6-3.
In the final inning of the night, Oklahoma Christian’s Jones sent a homer to right field and brought Polston and Cobble home with him. Brady Baugh’s single allowed Lacy to score and pushed the Eagles over the top to a 7-6 win.
“I’m proud of our team for sticking together and finding a way to win in the second game in the ninth inning even though we were down by three runs,” McKenzie said. “The pitching did a great job of minimizing the damage once we got into jams. The wind was blowing in pretty hard, which made hitting difficult, but once we adjusted we had timely hitting.”
Oklahoma Christian turned from the previous day’s single-point victories and tackled Friday with an 11-1 win to sweep the weekend.
Lacy, McKenzie, Baugh and Orth each scored in the second inning, followed by OPSU’s single run in the fourth. The Eagles shut down their opponent with an additional five runs in the fifth, Jones’ one-RBI home run in the sixth and Orth’s run in the seventh to finish out the game.
“Friday was a huge win because once we got the lead, we didn’t stop scoring,” McKenzie said. “On Thursday, we got complacent with our lead and didn’t keep the energy we had going into the game.”
Oklahoma Christian will travel to Cameron University and play on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Statistics provided by the Oklahoma Christian University Sports Information office.
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