OKLAHOMA CITY - The OCU baseball team looks to ride the momentum off of the season opening sweep over LSU-Alexandria and take it in Friday and Saturday against Clarke University at Jim Wade Stadium. 
 

Game Information        

• Oklahoma City Stars (3-0)
  • Last Series - W 12-11, W 7-4, W 4-3     
• Clarke Pride
• Date & Time: Feb. 2-3 | 12 PM, 3 PM, 12 PM
• Location: Jim Wade Stadium
• Live Coverage: TV | Live Stats 

Key Players

• Oklahoma City        
  • OF - Darian Duhon - .600 AVG, 1.567 OPS, HR, 5 R, 3 RBIs
  • INF - Hunter Lenochan - .400 AVG, 1.055 OPS, 2 2B, 4 RBIs
  • INF - Trent Kiraly - .400 AVG, 1.300 OPS, HR, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI
  • RHP - Connor Ferguson - 5.1 IP, 1.69 ERA, 5 H, R, BB, 2 SO
  • RHP - Andrew Limbaugh -   1-0, 5.0 IP, 1.80 ERA, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
• Clarke University (2023)
  • OF - Brendan O'Connor - .344 AVG, 1.105 OPS, 12 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 31 RBIs
  • C - Thomas Brannon - .417 AVG, .533 OBP, 6 2B, 5 HR, 31 RBIs
  • RHP - Nic Cortez - 1-3, 7.1 IP, 6.14 ERA, 10 H, 12 R, 5 ER, 12 SO 

About the Stars

• OCU comes off an outstanding opening weekend after sweeping LSU-Alexandria at Piedmont High School. 
• The Stars saw some powerful hitting with Darian Duhon starting out his OCU career with six straight hits while finishing the weekend with a .600 batting average, three RBIs and one home run. 
• Senior Trent Kiraly joined in on the home run action in game two on Sunday as Kiraly hit a 400 plus foot dinger to dead center. 
• Aiden Van Rensum and Hunter Lenochan each added three hits in game two of the series as Van Rensum finished the weekend with five hits and four runs scored. 
• Lenochan played a big part in game three scoring the game-winning run on a wild pitch to help the Stars earn the series sweep. The junior second basemen totaled four hits while holding a team leading four RBIs entering this weekends series. 
• The pitching for Oklahoma City got off to a strong start as game two starter Andrew Limbaugh went five innings while surrendering two runs on three hits while striking out five. 
• Game three starter Connor Ferguson also shined as the senior went held LSU-A scoreless through five innings without allowing a runner to reach second base. 
• The OCU bullpen picked up a pair of wins as Anthony Kopecky came in a shut the door in game one while Chad Pike held the Generals scoreless in the final inning in game three to help keep it at one run deficit where Pike eventually earned the win after OCU walked it off in the bottom frame. 

About the Pride

• Clarke University will be making the trip from Dubuque, Iowa out of the Heart of America Athletic Conference to open up its 2024 season. 
• The Pride come off a 29-18 season where it was eliminated in the conference tournament by Mid-America Nazarene 10-5.
• Clarke returns two of its top bats from a year ago with graduate senior Brendan O'Connor making his return to the outfield. O'Connor finished 2023 with a .344 average and had the second most extra base hits on the team. 
• Thomas Brannon returns for his senior stint as he appeared in 37 games last season and slashed a .417 average with a .533 OBP.
• Clarke lost a huge load of its pitching staff from 2023 as the most experienced arm coming back is sophomore Nic Cortez who appeared in 7.1 innings while dicing up a 6.14 ERA and made just one start in seven games. 

Series History

• The only meeting between these two schools came last year as OCU took the series two game to one (11-3, 2-3, 4-3) on Feb. 4-5 at Jim Wade Stadium.