OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University produced a season-high offensive output in a 27-6 romp against Central Christian (Kan.) on Saturday afternoon at Jim Wade Stadium.
The Stars, ranked fourth in NAIA baseball, posted their most runs and tied their most home runs of the year. Oklahoma City collected its 16th win in a row to move to 40-3, 19-2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
OCU tallied its second 20-run total of the season to eclipse the 21-0 rout of Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on April 16 in Waxahachie, Texas. The Stars hammered six home runs to equal their six round-trippers against Science & Arts on March 19 and vs. Bacone on April 1.
The Stars' Frederic Walter drove in a career-best seven runs while belting two homers in a game for the first time. Cross Factor crushed his 23rd homer of the year to rank No. 2 in the NAIA on the season and knocked in five runs, while Cade Stephens matched his career high with four RBIs.
Stephens pounded a three-run blast to left-center to put OCU ahead 21-2 in the third. Hunter Brown smacked his first career homer to spark a five-run second inning, while Jesse Fonteboa's solo shot to left to give the Stars a 25-6 advantage.
OCU led 13-1 after one inning. Walter and Fonteboa each smacked two-run doubles. Factor bashed his third career grand slam to right, and Walter's two-run blast to left capped the Stars' scoring in the first.
Walter hit a three-run blast over the wall in right-center to provide OCU an 18-1 cushion in the second. Walter, a senior from Montigny, France, turned in a 3-for-3 day with three runs scored.
Darian Luper raked an RBI double into left for a 26-6 lead in the fifth. Nicholas Paquin closed out the scoring in the game by reaching home plate on a wild pitch.
Fonteboa, a junior from Las Vegas, supplied the Stars with a 4-for-4 effort with two runs scored and three RBIs, while Stephens, a senior from Blanchard, Okla., went 2-for-4 and scored three times. Factor, a senior from Yukon, Okla., scored three runs as part of a 2-for-3 outing, and Chad Pike, a sophomore from Southampton, N.Y., went 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
Tanner Sparks took the win to move to 7-1 on the season. Sparks, a senior right-hander from Shawnee, Okla., went four innings and struck out seven. Braden Hill, Tyler Polk and Luper teamed to hold Central Christian scoreless over the final 2.1 innings.
OCU closes out its non-conference slate for the season against Friends (Kan.) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Wichita, Kan.
