OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University routed Mid-America Christian on Thursday at the James Curtis Complex.
The Stars, ranked third in NAIA baseball, pounded 22 hits to reach 20 for the fourth time this season. OCU improved to 34-6, 21-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
The Stars built a 5-0 fourth-inning advantage. Mark Purser knocked in a run on a single to right field. Purser reached home plate when Kirk Walker tripled to left.
Ruben Sosa brought in the Stars' first runs of the game with a two-run double to the left-field wall in the third inning. Sosa scored on Walker's base hit for a 3-0 OCU lead.
OCU responded after Mid-America plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Terrance Jackson socked a base hit to left to bring in a run. Randy Vann, running for catcher Chad Carman, scored on an error.
OCU reached double digits in runs for the 16th time this year on Scott Dalrymple's RBI single in the seventh. Miguel Beltran put OCU ahead 11-3 by scoring on a wild pitch.
Julien Pollard crushed a grand slam to right to put the Stars up 15-3 in the eighth. Carman drove in OCU's final run of the day on a base hit.
Corey Theriot, a senior from Iowa, La., improved to 10-0 this year. He notched a season-high 12 strikeouts while allowing seven hits in seven innings. Theriot struck out the side in the sixth. Steve Styck worked a scoreless eighth, finishing the game on a 6-4-3 double play.
Purser, a senior from Spokane, Wash., went 5-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Jackson, a senior from Greenville, Ala., was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs for OCU.
Beltran, a junior from Long Beach, Calif., went 3-for-5, doubled and scored three times each, and Carman, a junior from Midwest City, Okla., was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Pollard, a senior from Tacoma, Wash., went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and four runs driven in.
Dalrymple, a senior from Beaverton, Ore., was 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Walker, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., was 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBIs.
OCU takes on Mid-America Christian at 4 p.m. Friday at Jim Wade Stadium.
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