Photo by: Will Gentry
The Oklahoma Christian University baseball team made a major effort to return from early deficits and split four games last Friday and Saturday. Despite missing three key players, the Eagles rallied late in games, but fell against Newman University.
“We’ve got two of our best hitters out right now [who have] played for us a lot; Jordan Lopez and Cory Eastwood,” Head Baseball Coach Lonny Cobble said. “But we’re getting a lot of guys some experience, and I think that’s going to really help us at the end of the year.”
Additionally, one of the Eagles’ usual starting pitchers, junior Kelby Reneau, has been out, significantly changing up the lineup. While all three players are expected back soon, their absence has been apparent. In the second game of the doubleheader on Friday Newman jumped on the Eagles early, scoring seven runs in just one inning. Oklahoma Christian was unable to recover.
“I’m proud of the way our guys rallied at the end, but it was a little late,” Cobble said.
Oklahoma Christian recorded a 13-4 loss after a 4-2 win in the first game of the doubleheader. The Eagles returned to play Newman at noon on April 5, but again had a late rally that fell short.
“We dug ourselves a hole by not throwing strikes and filling up the zone, making Newman earn their runs,” sophomore pitcher Dylon Sturges said after the game.
Newman took an early 5-0 lead in the second and third innings, but the Eagles were able to answer with three runs in the sixth and another in the seventh
“Our hitters were tough and kept battling,” Sturges said. “We would have liked to get a few more runs, but that’s just the way things fall sometimes. We are a great team and are still working as hard as we can to get better.
The Newman Jets pulled several hits off Sturges, but the Eagles came within one run in the seventh inning.
“I think the bullpen did its job to keep our hitters in the game and keep the other team from getting comfortable and cruising through the game,” Sturges said after the game on Saturday.
On Tuesday, April 1, Sturges secured an 8-7 win in the 11th inning against East Central University.
“[That game] went pretty well; they jumped on us pretty early,” junior catcher Caden Cleveland said. “The starting guy that pitched that game, his name is Kacy Cook – he’s a great pitcher. I always tell him [that] he’s the most unlucky pitcher. Every single time he pitches, the other team, for some reason, has little dinker hits all over the field just where we can’t get them. I don’t think it was really his fault that they jumped on us, he’s just kind of an unlucky fella. We battled back into and ended up doing all right.”
The Eagles knocked in one run in the third off of a hit by senior Caleb Price. In the fifth inning the Eagles brought in five runs and ended up taking a 6-5 lead before Newman came back to tie the game. Cleveland hit the game-winning RBI in the top of the 11th inning during the game against East Central.
“We ended up getting it going into extra innings,” Cleveland said. “At that point, Kim Keener had been catching the whole game and I came in to pinch-hit for him and got a hit; didn’t end up scoring, but since I pinch hit I had to stay in the game to catch. Two innings later, Markus Carr ended up stealing second for us and I just happened to be the guy up and got a hit for us. Markus was, luckily, fast enough to get in.”
Senior Markus Carr had a productive weekend, as he tripled and scored three of the Eagles’ four runs during the opening game against Newman last Friday before being the game-winning run at home on Tuesday.
“As far as pitching and hitting, our starters have done an amazing job all season long, especially Brandon Pierce,” Cleveland said. “Kelby Reneau ended up getting hurt and Luke Sandoval has really stepped in and done an awesome job for us.”
Senior pitcher Brandon Pierce threw his fourth complete game of the season on April 4 against Newman, striking out seven Jets and sealing a win. Newman scored only two runs in the game, during a brief offensive streak in the second inning.
“I feel like we’re a completely different team when there’s high energy,” Cleveland said. “There’s just sometimes a lull.”
According to Cobble, the team is only going through a temporary slump.
“Our team always can improve on some things,” Sturges said. “I think we are OK with where we are at so far this season, but we always want to continue to get better and work harder.”
Sturges said he was proud of the advancements made between this season and last season.
“As far as hitting compared to last year, we’re night and day difference; just a better team,” Sturges said. “We’re a lot stronger mentally with our approach to the plate. We started in the fall trying to get in the right mindset, and it has translated into the spring where the numbers are getting better.”
The Eagles made a comeback from the losses against Newman by recording a 14-3 win over Oklahoma City University on Tuesday, April 8. Oklahoma Christian pushed OCU into an early nine-run deficit that decided the game.
“We have been bouncing back from losses well,” senior Kacy Cook said. “Last year we had trouble doing this, but this year we show up to the field knowing we’re going to win.”
Junior catcher Caden Cleveland, the Heartland Conference’s hitter of the week, had four RBIs for the Eagles, three of which came in the third inning.
OCU scored two runs in the fourth inning and one in the top of the ninth inning before Oklahoma Christian brought the game to a close.
The Eagles play a home game against Ecclesia College tonight at 7.
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