OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University moved into the title game with a 9-5 win over Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) before dropping the championship 9-5 to MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on Wednesday at Jim Wade Stadium in the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round Oklahoma City Bracket.
Cross Factor launched his 30th home run of the year as part of his record-setting 2022 campaign. Third-ranked Oklahoma City completed the season with a 49-6 record.
MidAmerica Nazarene (39-16) took its first NAIA World Series berth. The Pioneers nabbed the lead with five runs in the second inning. Brycen Sherwood tied the game 3-3 with an RBI single, then Dio Cornett and Joshuan Sandoval got hit by pitch with the bases loaded. In the third, Joshua Martinez added a sacrifice fly for MidAmerica Nazarene.
OCU put together a 3-0 first-inning advantage. Factor nailed an RBI double to left. Peyton Crispin crushed a two-run home run over the right-field wall.
The Stars mounted a rally with two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Frederic Walter pounded a run-scoring single to left, and Cade Stephens went home on Chad Pike's groundout.
Stephens, a senior from Blanchard, Okla., posted a 3-for-4 showing and scored a run. Crispin, a senior from Lookeba, Okla., went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Factor, a senior from Yukon, Okla., broke OCU records with a .525 batting average and 1.155 slugging percentage this year. Factor eclipsed the .504 batting average Ted Ledbetter had in 2004 and the .990 slugging percentage Allen Thompson put up in 1994. Factor became the second Star to hit 30 homers after Brent Weaver hit 37 in 2009.
Factor fell a double short of the cycle as part of a 3-for-5 performance with three runs scored and five RBIs against 20th-ranked Freed-Hardeman. Factor gave OCU the early lead with an RBI triple to right in the first.
In the second, Factor dropped a single into left-center field to bring home two runs to put OCU ahead 4-2. Factor ripped his 30th homer, a two-run blast beyond the right-field wall, in the fourth.
Crispin added an RBI grounder in the first and a two-run base hit in the second. Dylan Taylor smacked an RBI single to right in the seventh.
Tanner Sparks retired 15 in a row from the second through the sixth. Sparks, a senior right-hander from Shawnee, Okla., struck out eight in 6.1 innings. Sparks improved to 10-1 on the season. Tyler Polk finished the game.
