OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University rallied its way to a 5-4 victory as part of a doubleheader sweep of Central Christian (Kan.) on Saturday at Jim Wade Stadium. 

The Stars crushed Central Christian 19-1 in the early game Saturday. Oklahoma City improved to 26-18, 16-7 in Sooner Athletic Conference baseball. 

OCU kept alive its hopes of gaining a share of the conference regular-season title. Texas Wesleyan tops the SAC with a 34-12, 17-6 league mark. Should OCU win the last game of the series against Central Christian and Mid-America Christian (35-13, 15-8 SAC) defeat Texas Wesleyan, ranked 14th in the NAIA, there would be a tie atop the conference standings. 

Tristan Williams brought the Stars the win in the late game with an RBI base hit to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning. OCU erased a 4-0 sixth-inning deficit.  

In the bottom of the sixth, Williams ignited the rally with a run-scoring double into right-center field. Felix Chenier-Rondeau drove in two runs on a double through the middle of the infield. Barrett Daniel nailed an RBI double to right to even the score 4-4. 

Rondeau, a junior from Blainville, Ontario, Canada, majoring in psychology, turned in a 2-for-3 effort with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored. Williams, a senior from Southlake, Texas, studying business administration, went 2-for-4 with two runs driven in and a run scored. 

Reese Ratchford collected his first victory with OCU. Ratchford, a freshman right-hander from Sulphur, Okla., kept Central Christian off the scoreboard the final 2.2 innings while striking out two. Tyler Polk pitched the first 4.1 innings. 

In the first game, Rondeau and Trent Kiraly hammered grand slams to power OCU. Jesse Fonteboa touched off the scoring by pounding a solo blast beyond the left-field wall in the first. 

Oklahoma City piled up nine runs in the second. Kiraly and Chad Pike drew bases-loaded walks, while Hunter Lenochan had a two-run single. Williams smacked an RBI single to left before Rondeau capped the scoring by launching a grand slam over the right-field wall. 

The Stars accumulated nine more runs in the fourth. Kiraly sparked OCU by belting an RBI double to left. Daniel, Ratchford and Aiden Alexander chipped in run-scoring base hits. Kiraly crushed a grand slam over the left-field wall to put OCU ahead 19-0. 

Kiraly, a junior finance major from Farmington, N.M., put together a 2-for-3 performance while driving in six runs and scoring three times. Williams added a 3-for-3 showing with three runs scored and an RBI, while Rondeau went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Daniel, a junior from Bixby, Okla., studying cellular & molecular biology, chipped in a 2-for-2 effort with two runs scored and an RBI. 

Eli Davis struck out seven in five shutout innings, holding Central Christian to three hits. Davis, a senior left-handed criminal justice major from Shawnee, Okla., went to 9-2 this year. Connor Ferguson and Cole Sedgwick finished up on the mound. 

The Stars take on Central Christian at 1 p.m. Sunday at Jim Wade Stadium.