Baseball 3/18/2014 5:36:00 PM

Stars edge Southern Nazarene 8-6

Clutch home runs from Hlabert, Lynch and Murphy led OCU past Crimson Storm

Holden Lyons struck out two and picked up the win against Southern Nazarene.

Box Score
BETHANY, Okla. – Oklahoma City University topped Southern Nazarene 8-6 Tuesday at Cypert Athletic Complex.
The Stars, ranked No. 5 in NAIA baseball, fell behind in the fourth inning by rallied past the Crimson Storm with a pair of two-run innings and improved to 19-6 overall.
Austin Murphy drove in Forrest Smith with a sacrifice fly to left field and put OCU on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning. Mason Toole scored on an SNU error later in the inning to give the Stars a 2-0 advantage.
Chance San Miguel cut the OCU lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second with an RBI double.
In the top of the third, OCU stretched its lead to 3-1 when Connor Lynch crossed the plate after a Crimson Storm error.
The Crimson Storm responded with a four-run bottom of the fourth and took a 5-3 lead.
The Stars got a two-run homer from Murphy in the fifth and a pair of solo blasts from Josh Halbert and Lynch in the sixth and regained the lead at 7-5.
Caleb Teel singled to right and plated a run for the Crimson Storm to narrow the OCU lead to one run in the bottom of the sixth.
Halbert gave OCU an insurance run in the top of the eighth when he scored on a wild pitch to expand the lead to 8-6.
Halbert retired the Crimson Storm in order in the bottom of the ninth and handed the Stars the 8-6 victory.
Starting pitcher Holden Lyons allowed six runs on eight hits and struck out two in 5.2 innings of work to pick up the win. Duncan Reynolds notched a strikeout in two scoreless innings of relief. Halbert struck out one and tossed 1.1 innings in relief.
Murphy went 1-for-4 with three RBIs to lead OCU at the dish. Halbert and Lynch drove in one run apiece.
The Stars will return to Sooner Athletic Conference play against 11th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist at 2 p.m. Thursday at Jim Wade Stadium.

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