Baseball 3/30/2013 9:57:00 PM

Stars nudge past USAO 10-7, 2-1

Second-ranked OCU completes four-game sweep of No. 22 USAO

Patrick Goelz improved to 3-1 by pitching the seventh inning of the second game Saturday.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
CHICKASHA, Okla. – Oklahoma City University finished off a four-game sweep of USAO by scraping out 10-7, 2-1 victories Saturday at Bill Smith Ballpark in a series matching top 25-ranked teams in NAIA baseball.
Jonathan Sigado drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning of the first game, while Chase Jensen pounded a two-run home run in the eighth of the second game for the Stars. Second-ranked OCU moved to 30-7, 10-2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, while 22nd-ranked USAO fell to 27-9, 5-6 in league play.
The Stars rallied from 4-0 and 7-6 deficits to win the first game.
Sigado touched off a three-run OCU seventh by nailing a double into the right-center field gap to score Cody Ferrell, who led off the inning with an infield hit. The Stars led 8-7 on Sigado's RBI double. Josh Dickey added a sacrifice fly, then Jensen hammered a solo homer.
OCU tied the game 7-7 as Jensen reached home plate on Kale Gaden's groundout with the bases full in the sixth. Blake Pruett had put USAO in front 7-6 with a fifth-inning two-run double.
Gaden put the Stars ahead 5-4 in the third. After Jonathan Rodriguez walked with the bases loaded, Gaden pounded his first grand slam in his two-year OCU career. Brian Vigo answered with a solo blast in the bottom of the third to tie the game for USAO.
For the game, Gaden, a senior from Stillwater, Okla., drove in a career-high five runs while going 3-for-5 with two doubles. Chris Muñoz, a senior from Hacienda Heights, Calif., went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored, while Jensen, a senior from Arlington, Texas, was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double and an RBI. Ferrell, a senior from McLoud, Okla., went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored for the Stars.
Shane Henderson picked up his first victory for OCU. Henderson, a junior right-hander from Flower Mound, Texas, worked 3.2 innings in relief and struck out two. Davis Henderson earned a save by pitching the seventh.
In the second game, Jensen hit a one-out, two-run homer in the first extra frame to give the Stars the victory. Dickey led off the eighth by doubling to left.
USAO responded with Heath Wilda's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. Davis Henderson got Zach Gonzalez to hit a ground ball to Muñoz at third with Jared Coon on first to end the contest.
The Stars left two runners on in the seventh, while USAO stranded two in the second. In the second inning, Gonzalez led off with a base hit, then advanced to third on a wild pitch with two out. Konrad Mueller drew a walk, but OCU starting pitcher Ryan Gibson fanned Pruett on a full-count pitch.
Jensen went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two runs driven in. Dickey, Rodriguez and Sigado each doubled.
Patrick Goelz (3-1) notched the win by working a scoreless seventh. Goelz, a senior right-hander from Palm Bay, Fla., struck out two. Davis Henderson picked up his third save of the year.
OCU faces Texas Wesleyan at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Jim Wade Stadium.

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