Baseball 4/12/2014 8:04:00 PM

Stars finish sweep of Southwestern Assemblies of God

Wieck's pitching, Lynch's game-winning home run fuel OCU on Saturday

Connor Lynch struck for his eighth home run of the season to give the Stars the win in the second game Saturday.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
OKLAHOMA CITY – Brad Wieck threw a three-hit shutout, while Connor Lynch hit a walk-off home run in Oklahoma City University's 3-0, 4-3 doubleheader sweep of Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Saturday at Jim Wade Stadium.
The Stars moved into second place in the Sooner Athletic Conference baseball standings with the three-game series sweep of Southwestern Assemblies of God. OCU, ranked 12th in the NAIA, improved to 28-12, 16-5 in SAC play.
Lynch crushed the first pitch he saw from SAGU relief pitcher Raul Castro over the left-field wall leading off the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game Saturday. Lynch's eighth homer of the year completed OCU's rally from a 3-0 first-inning deficit.
Castro's two-run double gave Southwestern Assemblies a 3-0 lead with one out in the first. OCU starting pitcher Michael Nolan put the first two batters of the game on base with a hit by pitch and by committing an error. Nolan recovered to strand Castro on second base to end the inning.
Kyle Lacy's sacrifice fly to center field in the sixth tied the game 3-3 for the Stars. Josh Dickey started the bottom of the sixth by socking a double down the left-field foul line. Garrett Foster pinch-ran for Dickey, then scored on Lacy's fly ball.
Jared Baker laced a two-out RBI double past the first baseman to provide OCU its first run of the game. Forrest Smith pounded a double to left-center field, then scored on Baker's double.
Smith swatted a run-scoring base hit through the middle of the infield to cut the Stars' deficit to 3-2 in the fifth. Lacy opened the OCU half of the inning by legging out an infield hit, then reached home plate on Smith's hit.
Nolan worked out of a seventh-inning jam to keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the inning. Tallon Ralstin and Mark Schaeffer had base hits to put SAGU runners on first and third with two out. Nolan struck out Brock Schneider to halt the Southwestern Assemblies of God threat.
After Nolan fanned Nick Sheffield for the second out of the seventh, Nolan had retired eight SAGU batters in a row and 19 of 20. Nolan set down the visitors in order in the second, third, fourth and sixth.
Nolan, a junior left-hander from Yonkers, N.Y., held Southwestern Assemblies to two earned runs on three hits and a walk. Nolan (5-3) fanned eight in seven innings. He used 91 pitches to notch his fourth complete game in nine starts this year.
Smith, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., went 2-for-2, scored a run and drove in a run while hitting his eighth double of the year for OCU. Baker, a freshman from Edmond, Okla., went 2-for-3 with his 12th double and an RBI, while Dickey, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
In the first game, Wieck struck out 12 while holding Southwestern Assemblies of God to three hits and a hit batsman in seven innings. Wieck (3-3) finished his gem by logging 91 pitches.
Wieck permitted only Bryant Threadgill's infield hit leading off the second, Preston Hornbeck's bunt single to start the fifth and Schneider's base hit leading off the sixth. Schaeffer reached base on a hit by pitch with one out in the third.
None of the SAGU runners got to second base against Wieck. Wieck answered Threadgill's and Hornbeck's hits by striking out the side each time. OCU turned a 6-4-3 double play after Schneider's single. Wieck is the reigning SAC pitcher of the week after throwing a three-hit shutout at Northwood (Texas) while striking out 15 in nine innings in his previous outing April 5. Wieck entered the game leading the NAIA at 14.93 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Stars struck for their first run of the day in the second inning when Dickey scored from third base on Austin Murphy's attempted steal of second base. SAGU catcher Jared Denton threw the ball past the second baseman trying to throw out Murphy.
In the third, Dickey nailed a two-out RBI double to left to score Adonis Askew, who was running for Lynch. Lynch tripled to right-center field with one out.
Chris Valdes hammered a pinch-hit homer beyond the left-field wall in the sixth for OCU's third run of the contest.
Lynch, a junior from Marietta, Ga., went 2-for-3, while Dickey was 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI for the Stars. Adam Clark, a junior from St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, went 1-for-2, while Murphy, a junior from Denver, was 1-for-3.
The Stars hit two homers to increase its NAIA-high team total to 43.
Oklahoma City faces Oklahoma Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Jim Wade Stadium.

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