OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City University baseball team fought to a pair of wins in a conference battle of top-10 opponents. The seventh-ranked Stars won 1-0, 5-3 in their doubleheader with fifth-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) on Friday at Jim Wade Stadium.
With the pair of victories, the Stars moved to 12-2, 5-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The Chaparrals were saddled with their first losses of the year and dropped to 14-2, 3-2.
The early game proved to be a pitchers' duel. Corey Theriot, a right-handed senior from Iowa, La., pitched a complete-game shutout in the first of the doubleheader matchup. Theriot allowed four hits and struck out five batters in seven innings of work to move to 2-0 on the season.
Lubbock Christian's Paul Gonzalez gave up six hits, struck out four and allowed one run to cross the plate to take the loss.
The only offense came from a two-out RBI double off the bat of Dearth Parker. Parker, a senior from Roff, Okla., brought in Mark Purser to score the sole run of the game. Purser, a senior from Spokane, Wash., reached base with a triple to left field. He was 2-for-2 with a run for the Stars in the first game.
Lubbock Christian attempted a two-out rally in the top of the seventh, but left two stranded on base when Reid Chenworth flew out to center field to end the 1-0 game.
The nightcap saw OCU jump on the board in the early going, scoring all five of its runs in the first two innings of play. The Stars got an RBI single from Scott Dalrymple in the bottom of the first. Dalrymple, a senior from Beaverton, Ore., brought in Kirk Walker on the play. Walker, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., reached base with a double to right-center field. OCU left the bases loaded after a Matt Presley strikeout to end the inning.
The Stars netted four runs in the second on four consecutive batters. Walker got a bases-loaded single to drive in Brian Fisher. Miguel Beltran, a junior from Long Beach, Calif., hit a sacrifice fly ball to center to bring in Ruben Sosa. Dalrymple punched a single up the middle to score Purser. Chad Carman laid down a bunt that brought in Walker to give the Stars the 5-0 lead.
Lubbock Christian scored two runs in the fifth to close the gap to 5-2. OCU pitcher Allen Townsend got out of a bases-loaded jam after striking out Chenworth and forcing Dominic Piazza into a ground ball to end the inning.
The Chaps scored their final run in the seventh but left the bases loaded for the third time in the contest to fall 5-3 to the Stars.
Sosa, a junior from Lawrence, Mass., was 3-for-4 with a run. Dalrymple and Carman both finished 2-for-3 from the plate for the Stars. Allen Townsend, a senior from San Diego, pitched to the win and moved to 2-0 on the season. He allowed 10 hits and two earned runs in six innings of work. Steve Styck, a senior from Kankakee, Ill., picked up his first save of the season for the Stars.
