OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University captured the Sooner Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship with a 13-5 victory over Science & Arts in a showdown of top 10-ranked teams in the NAIA on Monday at Jim Wade Stadium. 

The fourth-ranked Stars overcame a 5-1 first-inning deficit to 10th-ranked Science & Arts, scoring 12 unanswered runs behind four home runs. Oklahoma City (47-4) took its 13th SAC Tournament championship and first since 2017.  

Oklahoma City grabbed the lead for good in the third inning. Frederic Walter skied a fly ball that cleared the left-field wall for his 13th homer of the year with two out to put the Stars on top 6-5.  

OCU rallied to tie the game 5-5 in the second. Also with two away, Chad Pike smashed a drive beyond the right-field wall for his fourth homer of 2022. Darian Luper crushed a three-run homer over the left-field wall for home run No. 7 on the year to even the score. 

Cross Factor completed the scoring by hammering a two-run blast over the left-field fence in the eighth for his 26th homer of the year. Factor, a senior from Yukon, Okla., equaled the 26 Allen Thompson hit for OCU in 1994, tying for the third most homers in a season in program history. Miguel Beltran (2012), David Dennis (2008), Nick Klusaw (2005) and Rick Nadeau (1999) hit 27, while Brent Weaver pounded a single-season OCU record 37 homers in 2009. 

"I'm very happy for our seniors who have been chasing the conference champoinship the last three years," OCU coach Denney Crabaugh said. "I think this tournament showed our maturity, our resiliency and our character. We had our backs against the wall a couple of times in this tournament and could've rolled over, but we stayed in it, and the conference championship was the end result." 

Crabaugh seeks career win No. 1,600 when OCU hosts the NAIA Championship Opening Round on May 16-19 at Jim Wade Stadium. Crabaugh moved his record to 1,599-491-2 in his 34th year as Oklahoma City head coach. The Stars take aim at their 17th appearance in the NAIA World Series in the NAIA Championship Opening Round. The NAIA will unveil the pairings and 46 qualifying teams for the Opening Round at 4 p.m. CST Thursday here. 

The Stars' Jacob Wright (4-0) hauled in the victory, working the first five innings. Wright, a senior left-hander from Cass City, Mich., allowed three earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out six. Chris Bennefield, a senior righty from Owasso, Okla., kept the Drovers scoreless over 3.1 innings while giving up two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Rylan Roberson completed the game pitching for OCU. 

Luper, a senior from Ada, Okla., knocked in five runs while going 2-for-4 with three runs scored for the Stars. Noah Barks, a senior from Mustang, Okla., turned in a 4-for-4 day with a double and three runs scored, and Factor went 2-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs.  

Pike, a sophomore from Southampton, N.Y., had a 2-for-5 performance with a run scored and run driven in. The Stars' Peyton Crispin and Felix Chenier-Rondeau each brought home two runs. 

OCU scored double-digit runs for the 26th time this season. The Stars have hit 99 home runs this year. Oklahoma City came back to win in three of its four SAC Tournament victories.