Baseball 5/25/2012 1:10:00 AM

OCU socks Lewis-Clark State 7-2

Third-ranked Stars nail three home runs to increase their NAIA-high number to 91

Miguel Beltran added to his college baseball-leading home run total with his 26th Friday.

LEWISTON, Idaho – Oklahoma City University powered its way past host team Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Friday at Harris Field in the NAIA World Series.
Miguel Beltran increased his nation-high home run number, while Chad Carman and Jonathan Sigado padded OCU's NAIA-high homer total. The third-ranked Stars (48-10) play next 8:30 p.m. CDT Monday.
Beltran pounded a three-run homer over the right-field wall to break a 1-1 third-inning tie. Beltran, a senior from Long Beach, Calif., tops college baseball this year with 26 homers.
Sigado knotted the game 1-1 by nailing a solo shot to left with two out in the top of the second. Sigado, a junior from Salem, Ore., hit his fourth homer of the season.
Carman, a senior from Midwest City, Okla., put OCU ahead 7-2 by belting a two-run blast over the left-field wall with two out in the ninth. Carman's 11th homer upped OCU's team total this year to 91, six more than second-place Azusa Pacific (Calif.).
Alfonso Casillas put Lewis-Clark State up 1-0 on an RBI single in the bottom of the first. Braxton Miller loaded the bases on a base hit to right-center field, but OCU's Rich Hawkins responded by retiring Billy Silvestri on a fly ball to center, then caught Kyle Knigge on a called third strike.
The Stars won their NAIA World Series opener for the ninth consecutive time.
“No place I'd rather be than Memorial weekend in Lewiston, Idaho,” OCU coach Denney Crabaugh said. “We are too good on offense and there was too much game left to push the panic button early on.”
Knigge's RBI double in the bottom of the third cut OCU's lead to 4-2. Silvestri had filled the bases with a single before Knigge's at-bat. Casillas scored on Knigge's two-bagger, but OCU center fielder Cody Ferrell fired the ball to shortstop Chris Muñoz, who threw Miller out at home on the play.
Hawkins (12-2) scattered seven hits and two walks to allow two runs in 7.1 innings. Hawkins, a senior left-hander from Edmond, Okla., struck out five.
“When Rich is on the mound, none of us are worried,” Beltran said. “He pulled it out.”
In the eighth, Silvestri had a base hit to put runners on first and third with one out. Ryan Gibson replaced Hawkins on the mound, then fanned Knigge and Mitchell Wilhite to snuff out Lewis-Clark State's potential rally. Gibson set down all five batters he faced to notch his first save as a Star.
Sigado went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. Sigado's infield hit with the bases loaded produced a run for the Stars in the top of the eighth.
“It's good to have those guys who don't always get the credit to lift us,” Crabaugh said of Sigado. “That was huge.”
Carman was 2-for-5 with a run scored and two runs driven in, while Beltran went 2-for-5, scored a run and drove in three runs. Ferrell, a junior from McLoud, Okla., went 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
No. 10-ranked Lewis-Clark State, the 16-time national champion, will play College of Idaho with the season on the line 2 p.m. CDT Saturday at Harris Field.
Boxscore

NAIA World Series
At Lewiston, Idaho
Harris Field
Times CDT
Friday's Results
Game 1: Point Park (Pa.) 7, College of Idaho 3
Game 2: Rogers State 3, South Carolina Beaufort 2
Game 3: Tennessee Wesleyan 17, Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 3
Game 4: Oklahoma City 7, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 2
Saturday's Games
Game 5: Embry-Riddle vs. South Carolina Beaufort, 11 a.m.
Game 6: College of Idaho vs. Lewis-Clark State, 2 p.m.
Game 7: Lee (Tenn.) vs. Point Park, 5 p.m.
Game 8: LSU-Shreveport vs. Rogers State, 8:30 p.m.
Monday's Games
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, 11 a.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 2 p.m.
Game 11: Tennessee Wesleyan vs. Winner Game 8, 5 p.m.
Game 12: Oklahoma City vs. Winner Game 7, 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday's Games
Game 13: Winner Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11, 2 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 12, 5 p.m.
Game 15: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday's Games
Game 16: TBD, 5 p.m.
Game 17: TBD, 8:30 p.m.
NOTE: Games 16 and 17 TBD by Tournament Committee.
Thursday's Game
Game 18: Championship, 9 p.m.
Friday, June 1
Game 19: If necessary, 9 p.m.

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