Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
The Oklahoma Christian University baseball team enjoyed a busy weekend this past week as they have finally reached a nice stretch of home games at Dobson Field.
The Eagles squared off in a pair of doubleheaders, two on Friday and two Saturday, against Central Methodist University out of Missouri. The Eagles then matched up against Tabor College on Monday night.
Game one of the doubleheader on Friday pitted sophomore Cale Coshow against Central Methodist lefty senior Drew Greiwe. As has seemed to be the case this season in any game featuring Coshow, this game quickly turned into a pitchers’ duel.
Coshow, who went seven strong, allowing only two hits and just one unearned run, struck out eight batters in yet another dominant performance for the Eagles. Not to be outmatched, Greiwe went five innings, allowing one earned run with nine strikeouts and no hits upon his departure.
Greiwe got the hook first, giving way to junior Rhett Quinlan, who gave up two hits and one earned run in the final three innings. Senior closer Chris Burgess was given the ball in relief of Coshow in the eighth and gave up no runs and no hits in his two innings of work.
In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at one apiece, senior Dillon Andrews was set to lead off. The Eagles would only need one batter as the senior belted a walkoff solo home run to secure the 2-1 victory.
Burgess was credited for the win in game one and Quinlan the loss.
Immediately following Andrews’ game-one heroics, sophomore Luke Sandoval was given the nod for the Eagles, going up against Central Methodist junior Jesse Zellner. Sandoval outlasted his counterpart, going six strong innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs. Zellner would only see two and-a-third innings of work allowing five earned runs before handing the ball to senior Colby Stack, who finished the game for Central Methodist.
The Eagles’ bats showed some life in the second game, led by a 2-3 performance from sophomore Garrett Guys, topped off with an RBI.
Sandoval got the win for the Eagles, and Chris Burgess recorded his second save of the year, striking out two in the top of the seventh to close the game.
Saturday proved tougher for Oklahoma Christian in the second pair of games against Central Methodist.
Sophomore Kelby Reneau started game one for the Eagles, matching up against junior Tyler Paule. Reneau went six innings and allowed two runs before handing the ball to junior Daniel Sawyer, who went one and-a-third, giving up one earned run.
“It was fun getting my first start of the year,” Reneau said. “I just kept the ball low and got ground balls, and the defense did a good job behind me. Despite the loss, it was a good game.”
The Eagles out-hit their opponent 11-7 in game three, but a run in the top of the eighth for Central Methodist proved unmatchable for the Eagles, and they fell 4-3 in extra innings.
Junior Blake Stringer led the Eagles going 3-4, and juniors Jordan Lopez and Markus Carr each added two hits of their own.
Sawyer was credited for the loss for the Eagles while Quinlan, who went the final two and-a-third for Central Methodist, grabbed the win.
Junior Tyler Schumann was given the start in game four for the Eagles, facing off against junior Mike Wagner. Schumann went three-and-two thirds for the Eagles, allowing five runs but only one earned run.
An error in the second inning gave way to two runs for Central Methodist, and another error in the fourth yielded three more. The Eagles fell to Central Methodist 6-3.
The Eagles recorded eight hits in game four, led by Andrews, who went 3-4. The important figure on the board was the two errors, which the eight hits could not trump.
Schumann was given the loss and Wagner picked up the win, and Central Methodist got the 2-2 split on Saturday for the series.
After a Sunday off, Tabor College came to Dobson Field on Monday as the fifth game in three days for the Eagles.
After the long series with Central Methodist, the Eagles used a host of four pitchers against the Blue Jays. Junior Brock Werdel pitched the first four for the Eagles, followed by freshman Jesse Stephens and junior Kacy Cook’s single innings, and junior Tyler Sturges put on the finishing touches.
The Eagles came out slow, committing three errors in the first inning, which turned into four quick runs for the Blue Jays. The Eagles would answer with one run in the first, third and fifth innings with RBIs from Guys, senior Jerry Owen and junior Garrett Stephenson, respectively.
A walk, a hit-by-pitch and another walk loaded the bases for the Eagles in the eighth with junior Caleb Price up to bat. Price would continue the stretch of free passes, wearing a fastball on the elbow and bringing home the tying run.
The ninth inning displayed a pair of zeros and the Eagles would force their fifth extra-inning game of the season. Sturges posted the ninth straight scoreless inning for the staff in the top of the 10th, and the Eagles came to bat looking to overcome their bad first inning and grab a victory.
A pair of walks and an error loaded the bases for the Eagles with no outs, and the Blue Jays brought their infield in to prevent the winning run. Andrews popped out to shallow right, and Price hit a ground ball to second that was brought home to prevent the run and collect the second out.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, it was up to Stringer to win the last game for the Eagles. Stringer would come through with a rocket single to the left side, scoring Lopez and giving the Eagles their second walkoff win in three days time.
“It felt good after rounding first seeing all the guys come out,” Stringer said. “It was a team win and we stayed together throughout the whole night.”
Sturges was credited as the winning pitcher for the Eagles, and freshman reliever Jacob Webb recorded the loss for the Blue Jays.
With a win against Tabor College, the Eagles brought their record to 7-7 with a 3-2 record in extra-inning games. Head baseball coach Lonny Cobble bragged on his players after the close win against the Blue Jays.
“I was very pleased with the way we battled back,” Cobble said. “I thought the pitching staff did a great job in keeping them to four runs and letting the offense go to work and eventually winning the game. I’m proud that we don’t quit.”
The Eagles are set to face off today against MidAmerica Nazarene University in a doubleheader at home starting at 3 p.m.
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