Eagles take series against St. Mary’s

In the first of four games against St. Mary’s University, the Oklahoma Christian University baseball team held the Rattlers scoreless to claim a 5-0 victory March 29 at Dobson Field.

In the bottom of the first inning, seniors Chad Kennedy and Kyle Bottger both scored on unearned errors by the Rattlers to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

Bottger scored again in the third and senior Jake Collins followed with another run to push the advantage to 4-0. Junior Garrett Wages scored the final run of the game in the sixth inning on a fly ball out to right field by Kennedy.

Junior Connor Litterell (1-0) pitched all seven innings for Oklahoma Christian allowing just four hits and striking out three batters.

The Eagles hold a lead for five innings to start the second game of the series before the Rattlers scored four runs to win the game 4-3.

Early in the game, at the bottom of the first inning, Collins put the Eagles on the board after capitalizing on a throwing error, putting the score at 1-0.

In the third inning, junior Callen Crockett stole home base to put Oklahoma Christian up 2-0.

The score remained the same through the fifth inning until St. Mary’s put up three runs in the sixth to take the lead 3-2. They added another run in the eighth, pushing the lead to 4-2.

Wages closed the gap to a one run difference in the bottom of the eighth on a double by Crockett, but the Eagles went scoreless in the ninth inning to lose the game.

Senior Skyler Martin (3-2) pitched six innings as the starter for Oklahoma Christian, giving up three runs and throwing three strikeouts. He was relieved by senior Mason McAlister in the seventh, who gave up one run and threw one strikeout.

The second day of doubleheaders began with the Eagles taking a 2-1 series advantage with a 3-2 win March 30.

St. Mary’s took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning before junior Ryan Ward tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Kolton Brown scored soon after on a throwing error by the pitcher, which allowed sophomore Drew Wright to steal second and Brown to cross home.

Then, the Rattlers tied the game back up 2-2 in the sixth inning, Bottger pushed the Eagles to the win with a score in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Sophomore Gabe Rodery (2-2) was on the mound for all seven innings, throwing five strikeouts and giving up two runs.

In the final game of the series, Oklahoma Christian completed the second-day sweep to win the series 3-1 after taking the game 7-5.

St. Mary’s jumped ahead 1-0 after the first inning and increased the score to 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third.

Freshman Chandler Salinas scored the first run for the Eagles, followed by both Crockett and Kennedy who tied the game up 3-3 entering the fourth inning.

Wages pulled Oklahoma Christina into the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Salinas added to the score to increase the Eagles’ lead to two, 5-3.

After a two-run homerun, the Rattlers tied the game up, but in the sixth inning the Eagles pulled away behind runs from Kennedy and Bottger.

Freshman Robbie Suhr (3-2) pitched six innings for Oklahoma Christian, giving up five runs while throwing three strikeouts. Collins relieved him and recorded his sixth save of the season, which leads the Heartland Conference.

Following the series, Litterell was named Eagle of the Week after pitching a win in his first start this season. He is the first baseball player to be given the award this season.

The Eagles will travel to Laredo, TX to play a set of doubleheaders against Texas A&M International University April 6-7. The games begin at 12 and 2 p.m. both days.