OKLAHOMA CITY – The OCU baseball team dropped the doubleheader against MidAmerica Nazarene on a windy Oklahoma day at Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium by a score of 6-1 and 2-1.
Game one
MidAmerica Nazarene 6, Oklahoma City 1
W: Zach Trevino (3-0)
L: Andrew Limbaugh (1-1)
Key Leaders
HOW IT HAPPENED
Hunter Lenochan gave Oklahoma City (8-3) its first hit of the ball game to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Lenochan stole his third bag of the year to set himself up in scoring position for shortstop Noah Kang to come around with a two-out RBI single to center field giving the Stars a 1-0 lead.
The Pioneers (5-4) came right back at OCU with two runs of their own in the top half of the third as a Drew Woodley triple brought home the first run for MNU which followed with a Brycen Sherwood single through the left side to bring home Woodley on the very next at-bat.
Oklahoma City had its chance to tie the game in the fourth inning with two on and one out as Darian Duhon delivered the third straight hit of the inning for the Stars into left field but as Kang made his way to the plate from second base the Pioneer left fielder Sean Maple kept the Stars off the board with a dart to the plate to take away the chance to tie the game.
MNU was able to add three more in the sixth and one for insurance in the seventh before sitting down OCU 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the last inning to beat the Stars 6-1 in game one.
GAME NOTES
- Noah Kang delivered the only RBI for OCU, his fifth of the season, and was one of three Stars to have more than one hit.
- Hunter Lenochan scored the game's only run while going 2-for-3 at the plate and picked up his third stolen base of the season.
- Darian Duhon was the third Star to have multiple base hits in the game going 2-for-4 and tied Trent Kiraly for the team lead in hits.
- Kiraly saw his eight-game hitting streak end after going 0-for-4 in game one of Friday's games. Aiden Alexander, however, found his way on base for the 11th consecutive time with a base hit in the fourth inning.
- Andrew Limbaugh took the ball on the mound to start the first game gave up four runs on four hits and suffered his first loss of the year. The left-hander was able to strike out a season-high seven batters in 5.2 innings of work.
- Out of the bullpen came Cole Sedgwick and Austin Worley as both gave up a run each while Worley picked up one strikeout.
Game Two
MidAmerica Nazarene 2, Oklahoma City 1
W: Bryce Brecklin (1-0)
L: Chad Pike (2-1)
Key Leaders
HOW IT HAPPENED
Just like game one, Oklahoma City (8-4) struck first in the second inning as Aiden Van Rensum and Tristian Williams both reached base to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt by Barrett Daniel the Stars had something brewing with both runners in scoring position and just one out.
Noah Kang for the second straight time gave the Stars their only run of the game with a sac fly to left to bring home Van Rensum.
OCU held the lead for most of the way until MidAmerica Nazarene (6-4) got going with a double to lead off the sixth by Brycen Sherwood. Kaden Owens delivered the game-tying run as Sherwood was able to come home from second base on the hit down the right-field line.
Staying in the sixth, with a runner on second and one out, the Pioneers were still threatening as Chad Pike entered the game for OCU and slammed the door shut on the inning, taking away the chance of MNU gaining the lead by forcing a groundout to Williams at third and finishing things off with a strikeout.
Neither team took control in scheduled innings of play, forcing free baseball in game two of Friday's doubleheader. Drew Woodley led the inning off with a double which propelled MNU to eventually take the lead in the first frame of extra innings as a single to right by Castillo put the Pioneers in front 2-1.
The Stars failed to capitalize in the bottom half and went down to suffer the sweep on Friday and lose their fourth game in a row.
GAME NOTES
- Oklahoma City set its lowest total amount of hits in game two with just three knocks coming its way as the Stars tallied one run for the fourth straight game.
- Aiden Alexander became the only Star to collect multiple hits helping the sophomore centerfielder maintain his streak of reaching base in every game this season.
- Noah Kang was the only Star to knock in a run all day as the shortstop poked in the only run of the game on the sac fly back in the second inning.
- Tristian Williams supplied OCU with its only other hit snapping an 0-for-7 streak at the plate with a 1-for-3 day to raise his batting average to .289 and bring his season total number of hits to 12, fourth highest on the team.
- Jacob Burkett made his fourth start of the season in game two and got back on track with some strong stuff as the junior right-hander allowed just one run while striking out a season-high of six batters in 5.1 total innings of work.
- OCU sees its third straight loss to MNU after splitting the season series a year ago. The Stars still hold a 17-12 record over the Pioneers since first meeting back in 2011.
WHAT'S NEXT
Oklahoma City will get right back to action on Sunday, with a doubleheader against Doane with the first pitch set for 11 am on Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium.
