Baseball 3/24/2012 10:00:00 PM

OCU picks up series win over OBU

Top-ranked Stars fall 8-7, then win 8-7 on Saturday

Miguel Beltran clouted his 14th and 15th home runs of the season Saturday.

SHAWNEE, Okla. – No. 1-ranked Oklahoma City University traded 8-7 victories with Oklahoma Baptist in a doubleheader split Saturday at Bison Field at Ford Park in a clash of top 10-ranked teams in NAIA baseball.
Rich Hawkins provided the game-winning RBI in the second game for the Stars. OCU went to 25-6, 13-2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, while ninth-ranked OBU finished the day 27-5, 9-3.
In the nightcap, the Stars picked up the series win with a six-run fifth inning that erased a 5-2 deficit. Miguel Beltran led off the inning by hammering his second home run of the day. Kale Gaden stroked an RBI single to right field, then Brian Fisher put OCU ahead by pounding a bases-full double to the left-center gap.
Hawkins nailed a triple to right that drove in Fisher, providing the Stars an 8-5 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth, Daniel Howell had an RBI double that cut OCU's lead to 8-7. Patrick Goelz struck out Michael Cerda for the second out of the inning, then got Yael Colon to ground out with two runners on to squelch the Oklahoma Baptist rally.
In the seventh, Daniel Baptista had a lead-off double as OBU put the game-tying run on third base with none out. Goelz fanned Howell, then erased the runner on third on a fielder's-choice groundball. Goelz retired Mitch Warne with a liner to Fisher at shortstop to end the game.
Goelz (3-0) earned the win by pitching the last 3.1 innings of the game. Goelz, a junior from Palm Bay, Fla., notched three strikeouts. Goelz entered the game with two out and two runners on in the fourth, but got out of the jam by getting Michael Sliger on a fly ball to center.
Chad Carman drove in the Stars' first run of the game on a fourth-inning double. Jonathan Sigado scored on Colon's error to cut OCU's deficit to 3-2.
Dane Phillips, a junior from Nacogdoches, Texas, went 3-for-4 with three doubles and scored twice for the Stars. Fisher, a senior from Spring, Texas, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Beltran, a senior from Long Beach, Calif., was 2-for-3. Gaden, a junior from Stillwater, Okla., was 2-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a stolen base.
In the first game, OCU scored three runs in the sixth to cut its deficit to 8-7. Gaden nailed a leadoff homer to right, then Beltran socked a drive over the right-field wall. Phillips added an RBI single.
OCU's Cody Ferrell and Chris Muñoz reached on walks in the seventh. Jesus Carlos struck out Beltran, then got the final out on a fielder's choice grounder that retired pinch runner Kyle Lacy.
Carman put the Stars up 4-3 with a homer to left to lead off the third. Hawkins cranked a two-run blast in the second for the first runs of the game.
Sliger and Dillon Usiak had back-to-back homers to provide Oklahoma Baptist an 8-4 fifth-inning cushion and the eventual game-winning run.
Phillips went 2-for-4 with a run driven in. Hawkins, a senior from Edmond, Okla., went 2-for-2 with a run scored and two RBIs.
Chad Hardison got the win, while Carlos recorded the save. Blake Schwartz took his first loss of the season, dropping to 6-1.
OCU meets St. Gregory's at 2 p.m. Thursday in Shawnee, Okla.
Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore

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