OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University came through with a 5-3 victory over Bellevue (Neb.) on Sunday at Jim Wade Stadium in a showdown of baseball teams ranked among the NAIA's top 25.
Peyton Crispin pounded a double off the right-center wall to knock in the winning run in the third inning. The 20th-ranked Stars (6-1) finished with a split against No. 24 Bellevue of their two games over the weekend.
Tanner Schoeninger earned the victory by pitching 7.2 innings while striking out five. Schoeninger, a senior right-hander from Fort Collins, Colo., logged 103 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits. Schoeninger improved to 2-0 on the year.
Jacob Wright took the save by working the final 1.1 innings with two strikeouts. Wright, a senior left-hander from Cass City, Mich., fanned Conner Barnett with two runners on to end the game. Wright collected his first career save for Oklahoma City.
Cross Factor crushed a home run well beyond the right-field wall leading off the third. Bellevue led 3-2 after scoring twice in the top of the third. Crispin, a senior from Lookeba, Okla., doubled along the right-field foul line in the fifth to give OCU an insurance run.
Cade Stephens nailed a base hit into right-center to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first.
Noah Barks smacked an RBI double to right-center to put the Stars in front 2-1.
Factor, a senior from Yukon, Okla., went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and his second homer of the year. Crispin had a 2-for-4 performance with two RBIs, and Barks, a senior from Mustang, Okla., turned in a 1-for-3 day with a run driven in.
Jesse Fonteboa doubled in the second and scored on Barks' double.
OCU completed the weekend 3-1 in a series against Bellevue and ninth-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan.
The Stars take on 22nd-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) at 2 p.m. Friday at Jim Wade Stadium.
