OKLAHOMA CITY – The OCU baseball team 2-1 over the weekend in the Show Me Showdown falling to #10 Missouri Baptist before winning two in a row against Columbia College who is receiving votes then taking down #22 Central Methodist on their home field.
Game one
Missouri Baptist 4, Oklahoma City 3
W: Jackson Wells (3-1)
L: Jacob Burkett (2-3)
Key Leaders
HOW IT HAPPENED
Missouri Baptist (9-6) scored all its runs in the second inning with a two-RBI single and a two-RBI double to go up 4-0.
Hunter Lenochan put Oklahoma City (9-7) on the board for the first time in the fifth with a solo home run before Aiden Van Rensum added a two-run homer in the sixth to cut the deficit to one.
OCU went down 1-2-3 in the final inning as the four-run deficit they were in was too much to overcome falling by a run in the first game on the weekend.
GAME NOTES
- Missouri Baptist came in as the 10th-ranked team in the NAIA while OCU was receiving votes and despite outhitting the Spartans, their four-run second inning was just enough to hold on and earn the victory.
- Hunter Lenochan continued to stay hot with his third home run of the season making it the three games in a row Lenochan has gone yard.
- Aiden Van Rensum tabbed his fourth game of the year with multiple RBIs while going 2-for-4 and hitting his third home run of the season.
- Jacob Burkett made his fifth start on the mound this season and after giving up four runs in the second inning, Burkett settled in and shut the Spartans for the rest of the way and tied a season-high in innings pitched with six while striking out five without allowing any walks.
- Reese Ratchford and Darian Duhon also totaled two hits apiece as Ratchford posted his first two-hit game of the season while Duhon went 2-for-3 with his third double in three straight games.
Oklahoma City 5, Columbia College 4
W: Cade Kelsey (3-1)
L: Reece Clapp (1-3)
SV: Chad Pike (4)
Key Leaders
HOW IT HAPPENED
Oklahoma City (10-7) was able to get on the board first in their first chance to bat with Darian Duhon singling down the right-field line to bring in Aiden Alexander.
Trent Kiraly was able to extend the Stars lead in the fourth inning with a solo home run to center field.
Columbia College (8-7) put together a big inning on one swing of the bat in the top of the sixth taking a 3-2 lead on a three-run blast.
The Stars, who have come back on numerous occasions already this season were not kept down long, answering with a three-run inning of their own as Kiraly drove in another run with Chad Pike putting the Stars in front with a single through the right side. Aiden Van Rensum supplied OCU with an insurance run by laying down a bunt single to bring Kiraly to the plate to make it 5-3 in favor of Oklahoma City.
Pike came on to close the game in the final inning and after two straight outs, Columbia College made things closer with a solo home run to cut the deficit to just one. Pike was able to come right back and sit down the next hitter on strikes to win the game and earn another save.
GAME NOTES
- After falling in game one, Oklahoma City got back in the win column with the victory in game two on Saturday improving its record to 10-7.
- Trent Kiraly went deep for the seventh time this season while going 2-for-4 and hitting the game-tying run in the sixth inning.
- Darian Duhon provided two hits in the game making it the fourth straight game that the junior has posted multiple hits in while extending his streak to four straight games.
- Connor Ferguson got the start on the mound and went five shutout innings before giving up a three-run home run in the sixth. Ferguson struck out five batters while giving up four hits.
- Cade Kelsey came in to get out of the jam in the sixth inning and earned his third win of the year out of the bullpen in just 0.2 IP with one strikeout.
- Chad Pike entered the seventh to close things down and despite giving up a home run, Pike was able to get out of the inning and earn his fourth save of the year.
Oklahoma City 6, #22 Central Methodist 4
W: Aiden Van Rensum (2-0)
L: Clayton Burke (2-1)
SV: Chad Pike (5)
Key Leaders
HOW IT HAPPENED
Chad Pike started the second inning with a solo home run to put the Stars on the board first.
After Central Methodist (10-3) tied it up in the third, Oklahoma City (11-7) regained the lead with a run in the fourth as Aiden Van Rensum hit a solo shot of his own for the second time of the weekend to put the Stars up 2-1.
The Eagles put together a three-run inning in the bottom of the fifth on two home runs which gave them a 4-2 advantage.
Once again, the Stars came right back and fired off four unanswered runs across the next two innings as Reese Ratchford came up clutch with a three-run bomb that Oklahoma City in the lead before Pike gave them another insurance run with a single that scored Hunter Lenochan.
Pike came into close things down for the second game in a row and faced four batters total in the inning to earn another save and give OCU a 6-4 win.
GAME NOTES
- Oklahoma City earned its second straight comeback win to finish the Show Me Showdown 2-1 and improve to 11-7 on the season.
- The Stars hit three home runs in the game coming from Chad Pike, Reese Ratchford, and Aiden Van Rensum.
- Pike launched his first home run of the season while going 2-for-4 on the day with two RBIs while also picking up his fifth save of the year.
- Ratchford gave the Stars the lead in the sixth inning with a three-run blast, his first home run of the season.
- Van Rensum went deep for the second time in three games over the weekend bringing his home run total to three this season while also earning the victory on the mound in 1.1 innings of work allowing one run on one hit with one strikeout.
- Tristian Williams has put together a sneaky six-game hitting streak while capping off the weekend with a 1-for-4 game and scored for the third time in four games.
- Hunter Lenochan posted a 1-for-4 game and just like Williams he has earned a hit in his last six games and scored a run in five straight.
- Cade Shatwell made his first start of the season and went 4.2 innings while giving up three runs on four hits and struck out five.
WHAT'S NEXT
Oklahoma City will return home for another midweek nine-inning game on Tuesday, Feb. 27 against Oklahoma Wesleyan at 1 PM on Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium.
