OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University took the mid-week game with a 7-4 win against Bethany (Kan.) on Wednesday at Jim Wade Stadium.
The Stars, ranked seventh in the NAIA, improved to 18-2 on the season, while Bethany fell to 5-13. Dylan Grove kept the Swedes off balanced to collect his second win of the season.
In the third, Tyler Williams hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Grant Harrison.
OCU increased its lead to 3-0 in the fourth. John Anthon muscled a two-run home run to left field.
In the fifth, the Stars added two more runs. Bryson Lierle swatted an RBI single to left center to score Noah Barks, and Tyler Williams stole home on a double steal.
OCU's Barks, a freshman from Yukon, Okla., went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, scored a run and swiped a base, and Grant Harrison, a junior from Edmond, Okla., was 1-for-3, scored two runs and stole a base, while Lierle, a junior from Altus, Okla., was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Grove, a senior from Moore, Okla. notched six strikeouts while holding Bethany to three run on eight hits in 6.1 innings to improve to 2-1.
Chris Bennefield, a freshman from Owassa, Okla., pitched 1.2 innings striking out two and allowing one hit. Spencer Flatt, a freshman from Ardmore, Okla., came on for a third of an inning allowing a run on a hit and struck out one. Kolin Marley, a junior form Norman, Okla. entered the game in the ninth with runners on first and second base. Marley threw two wild pitches to allow a run to score and then settled down and struck out the last two Bethany batters for his first save of the season.
The Stars travel to Chickasha, Okla., on Thursday to take on No. 9 USAO with a 6 p.m. start Thursday at Bill Smith Ballpark.