OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City University baseball team continued its winning streak to 15 games with a 17-7 trampling of Northwestern on Thursday at Jim Wade Stadium.
The seventh-ranked Stars moved to 17-2 and pushed their conference record to 8-0 with the high-powered performance. Northwestern fell to 12-7, 2-5 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
OCU fell behind quickly in the contest, with the Rangers putting up four runs in their first three innings. The Stars answered with six runs in the bottom of the third to take the 6-4 lead. OCU scored multiple runs in the next five innings to accumulate 17 in the run-rule shortened game.
The Stars' offense was highlighted by Scott Dalrymple, who was perfect from the plate. Dalrymple, a senior from Beaverton, Ore., was 4-for-4 with four runs and one RBI.
OCU batted around the order in the third, and scored all six runs in a two-out rally. The offensive outburst was highlighted by a clutch hit on a full count to Mark Purser. Purser nailed a bases-loaded double to center field that cleared the base paths and gave the Stars the 5-4 lead.
A double by Dalrymple in the fourth allowed Julien Pollard to cross home plate to give the Stars a two-run cushion. Miguel Beltran, a junior from Long Beach, Calif., then blasted his third home run of the season. Beltran's homer brought in Dalrymple and put the score at 9-4 in favor of OCU.
The Stars added a pair in the bottom of the fifth before Northwestern added a run in the sixth after Clint Dodds scored on a wild pitch. OCU answered with three more runs in the sixth to set the score at 14-5.
OCU pushed its lead to 10 runs and ended the game early after a Brian Fisher single through the left side of the field brought in pinch runner Randy Vann to halt the game at 17-7.
Eight OCU players safely reached base with a hit in the game. Lead-off hitter Ruben Sosa stole two bases to bring his total to 12 on the season. Sosa, a junior from Lawrence, Mass., was 2-for-5, brought in one run and scored one run for the Stars. Beltran finished the game 2-for-3 with three runs and three RBIs. Pollard, Purser and Matt Presley all ended the nights 2-for-4. Purser, a senior from Spokane, Wash., brought in five runs for OCU.
Corey Theriot, a senior from Iowa, La., picked up the complete game victory and moved to 5-0 on the season despite allowing 11 hits and seven runs by the Rangers.
OCU travels to Alva, Okla., to take on Northwestern in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
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