Baseball 4/19/2013 9:33:00 PM

OCU hammers Wayland Baptist 12-1, 7-3

Stars bring 2013 total to 50 home runs

Cody Crabaugh improved his OCU career record to 33-9 on Friday.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
PLAINVIEW, Texas – Top-ranked Oklahoma City University rolled to 12-1 and 7-3 victories over Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Friday at Wilder Field.
Chase Jensen and Forrest Smith powered the Stars with two home runs each in the first game, while Kale Gaden pounded a homer in the second. OCU moved to 39-8, 19-3 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
OCU increased its season total to 50 homers, which ranks second in the NAIA. Smith and Jensen hit back-to-back homers in the seventh to push the Stars' lead to 11-1 in the first game.
Gaden, a senior from Stillwater, Okla., drove in five runs in a 3-for-5 performance with a double and a triple. Gaden knocked in the Stars' first run of the day with a double along the right-field foul line in the first inning. Gaden's RBI single provided OCU a 3-0 third-inning lead. He tied his career high for RBIs, equaling the five he brought home vs. Oklahoma Christian on April 12, 2012 and at USAO on March 30, 2013.
In the sixth, Gaden tripled with the bases loaded, bagging three RBIs and putting the Stars ahead 9-1.
Jensen hit a solo shot over the left-field wall in the second, and Smith homered to center in the fourth for a 4-0 OCU advantage. Cody Ferrell and Chris Wallis chipped in run-scoring base hits.
Jensen, a senior from Arlington, Texas, went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Smith, a junior from Bakersfield, Calif., was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs driven in. Chris Munoz, a senior from Hacienda Heights, Calif., went 2-for-5 and scored twice, and Wallis, a junior from Albuquerque, N.M., was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Derek Howell struck out five, allowing on run on three hits in six innings to get the win. Howell, a senior right-hander from Krum, Texas, improved to 9-1 this season. He retired Wayland Baptist in order in the second, fifth and sixth, setting down the final eight batters in a row he faced from the fourth to the sixth. Ricky Spain finished up on the mound for the Stars in the seventh.
In the second game, OCU erased a 1-0 deficit with four runs in the fourth. Jensen drew a bases-loaded walk, then Walker Davidson brought home a run with a bunt hit. Smith and Jensen reached home plate on an error.
Gregg Veneklasen socked a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to slice OCU's lead to 4-3.
Jensen belted a triple down the right-field line to drive in a run and put OCU ahead 5-3 in the fifth. Gaden cranked a two-run blast to left in the sixth.
Davidson, a senior from Berryhill, Okla., went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Jensen was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs. Gaden scored twice and drove in two runs, while Smith went 1-for-2 with a double and scored twice.
Cody Crabaugh notched the victory, moving to 11-1, tying for the NAIA lead in victories this year. Crabaugh, a senior righty from Edmond, Okla., picked up his third complete game of the season, fanning six while allowing three runs on three hits in seven innings.
OCU finishes the series against Wayland Baptist with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday in Plainview, Texas.

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