Baseball 5/3/2013 1:10:00 AM

OCU tames Rogers State, USAO

Top-ranked Stars tussle with Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. Saturday for tourney crown

Jonathan Rodriguez ripped two doubles and a home run Friday to boost the Stars.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 1-ranked Oklahoma City University used a 9-7 win over Rogers State and a 4-2 victory over USAO on Friday at Jim Wade Stadium to reach the Sooner Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship game.
Patrick Goelz closed the first game out as Rogers State left the bases loaded, while Chris Munoz pounded a two-run home run to make the difference in the second. The Stars, top-ranked in the NAIA, face Lubbock Christian (Texas) at 1 p.m. Saturday for the tournament title. OCU improved to 47-10.
Davis Henderson earned the save against 25th-ranked USAO, outlasting Blake Pruett to strike Pruett out on a called third strike for the second out of the ninth inning. Henderson and Pruett battled for an 11-pitch at-bat. Henderson retired Konrad Mueller on a fly ball to right field to end the game.
Owen Adams laid down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third base with one out in the ninth for USAO. Henderson, a senior right-hander from Spring, Texas, collected his ninth save.
Derek Howell notched the victory, improving to 10-2 on the year. Howell, a senior righty from Krum, Texas, struck out nine and allowed two runs on five hits and a walk in eight innings. Howell logged 118 pitches and retired USAO in order in the fourth, sixth and eighth. Howell set down six consecutive batters from the third to the fifth.
Cody Ferrell brought home Jonathan Sigado from third base by legging out an infield hit in the first inning. OCU led 1-0 by taking advantage when Sigado reached on an error. Jonathan Rodriguez doubled to put Sigado on third for Ferrell.
Chase Jensen led off the second by drawing a walk. Munoz belted the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall for his eighth homer of the year and a 3-0 Stars lead.
Rodriguez knocked in an insurance run with a seventh-inning double along the right-field foul line. Pruett answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-run blast to right. Chris Fischer fanned eight in 7.1 innings while taking the loss for the Drovers (40-17).
Rodriguez, a junior from Anaheim, Calif., was 3-for-4 with a run driven in and two doubles, while Ferrell, a senior from McLoud, Okla., was 2-for-3 with three stolen bases and an RBI. Munoz, a senior from Hacienda Heights, Calif., scored twice and drove in two runs.
Against Rogers State, Jensen extended OCU's lead to 7-1 on an eighth-inning RBI base hit. The Hillcats fought back as Hector Rivera's single loaded the bases after Ricky Spain had two hit batsmen. Jose Olazagasti cut Rogers State's deficit to 7-5 with a grand slam to right. Chad Nelson came on to get the Stars out of the inning by striking out Ramcy Lora and retiring Nick Malter on a flyout to center.
Walker Davidson singled to start the ninth. Rodriguez plated Davidson by cranking a two-run blast over the right-field wall and put OCU in front 9-5.
Colton Campbell rallied Rogers State with a two-run base hit with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Johan Ochoa walked to fill the bases.
Goelz entered the game to get Lora on a fly ball to center. Goelz, a senior right-hander from Palm Bay, Fla., picked up his third save in 2013 and 11th in his two-year OCU career.
Dalton Bernardi (6-1) struck out eight in six innings, allowing one run on four hits. Bernardi, a junior righty from Choctaw, Okla., allowed Eric Baker's triple and Rivera's RBI base hit in the first. After Emmanuel De La Cruz's base hit in the second, Bernardi settled down to retire 10 in a row. Spain worked a 1-2-3 seventh.
Jensen, a senior from Arlington, Texas, went 3-for-4 with a run scored, stolen base and two RBIs, while Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Davidson, a senior from Berryhill, Okla., was 2-for-4 with a steal and scored twice, and Ferrell went 1-for-3, swiped a base and scored three times.

Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament
Wednesday's Results
At Oklahoma City University
Jim Wade Stadium
USAO 6, Rogers State 5
Oklahoma City 4, Mid-America Christian 2
At Oklahoma Baptist
Bison Field at Ford Park
Lubbock Christian 3, St. Gregory's 1
Oklahoma Baptist 6, Wayland Baptist 5
Friday's Results
At Oklahoma City University
Jim Wade Stadium
USAO 14, Mid-America Christian 1
Oklahoma City 9, Rogers State 7
Oklahoma City 4, USAO 2
At Oklahoma Baptist
Bison Field at Ford Park
Wayland Baptist 4, Lubbock Christian 1
Oklahoma Baptist 7, St. Gregory's 3
Lubbock Christian 3, Oklahoma Baptist 1
Saturday's Game
At Oklahoma City University
Jim Wade Stadium
Championship
Lubbock Christian vs. Oklahoma City, 1 p.m.

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