After going 1-1 in its first two games, the Oklahoma Christian University men’s baseball team clinched its three-game series against Cameron University with a 6-4 victory in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
“Our mindset is to always take two out of three,” senior, pitcher Jake Moore said. “If we can take three that is even better, but we knew going in that this was a tough opponent. We knew we needed to take the series even if we could not get all three wins.”
The first game of the series ended with a 7-3 victory for the Eagles after they held Cameron to zero runs in the final five innings.
Senior Dalton Rentz opened on the mound for Oklahoma Christian and allowed two early runs in the first inning and an additional run in the second to give Cameron a 3-0 lead going into the third. Rentz struck out five batters and did not allow a hit for his final four innings.
Senior, catcher Lane Paul hit a two-run double to bring in two runners in the third inning. In the fifth, senior, outfielder Cory Duran hit a single to tie the game up 3-3.In the same inning, sophomore, infielder Josh Garbrecht repeated the action to give the Eagles a 4-3 lead.
In the seventh inning, senior pitcher Kolton Brown hitting a triple followed by a two-run double by senior, infielder Chase Kuwitzky, gave Oklahoma Christian a 7-3 advantage as they headed into the final innings.
Relieving pitchers Garett Hill and Moore both pitched scoreless innings to end the first game.
During the first game of the double header on Saturday, the Aggies took a 5-3 victory late in the eighth inning. Sophomore, infielder Garrett Wages hit a two-run single in the fourth inning to tie the score up 3-3.
The score did not change until the eighth inning when Moore let an opposing player walk before giving up a homerun and the win to Cameron.
“No matter what you just go in to play your part,” Moore said. “I shut them down in the ninth of the first game, but in the second I gave up the walk off homerun to lose the game. I just went into the third game I just did my best to be a good teammate.”
During the final game of the series, Oklahoma Christian came back in the ninth inning for the win.
The Eagles lead early after a two-run opening inning, but the Aggies held them scoreless and scored two of their own in the next two innings. Both teams failed to record another run until the seventh inning when Cameron scored twice.
The eighth inning passed without either team scoring, but in the ninth, junior, outfielder Hayden Strobel and Brown both scored, off a single from Paul.
Junior, outfielder Chad Kennedy doubled to bring in Paul, tying the game at 4-4. Senior, first basemen Jake Baxter brought Kennedy in with a home run to give Oklahoma Christian the lead 6-4.
A combination of freshman reliever Gabe Rodery and Hill finished out the game for the Eagles on the pitching mound.
The Eagles will play again today when they host the University of Central Oklahoma at 3 p.m.
“This is great for us,” Moore said. “If we can keep this kind of play up I do not see why we could not make a good run.”
Statistics provided by the Oklahoma Christian University Sports Information Office.
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