OKLAHOMA CITY – The OCU baseball team split the doubleheader on Sunday as Tristan Williams and Hunter Lenochan move their hitting streaks to 12 games.
Mid-America Christian 8, Oklahoma City 3
W: Issac Baez (5-1)
L: Kade Shatwell (1-1)
Key Leaders
HOW IT HAPPENED
Mid-America Christian (12-7) got out to a 6-0 lead through four and a half as the Evangels used two home runs from Noel McGarry-Doyle and D'Andre Gaines.
Oklahoma City (14-9) got on the board for the first time in the game in the fifth inning with two home runs from Chad Pike and Aiden Van Rensum which cut the deficit in half to 6-3.
MACU added two more insurance runs in the final inning of play with another home run this time coming from Anthony Hampton, allowing MACU to secure an 8-3 win in game one.
GAME NOTES
- Oklahoma City fell to 14-9 overall while dropping its first conference game of the season.
- Chad Pike was the only Star to have multiple base hits in the game as the senior put himself second on the team in home runs with six.
- Aiden Van Rensum hit his fifth home run of the season during his 1-for-3 game where he added a pair of RBIs making him second on the squad behind Trent Kiraly.
- Tristan Williams and Hunter Lenochan both extended their hitting streaks to 11 games as Williams provided his eighth double of the year while Lenochan went 1-for-3 singling in his last at-bat of the game.
- Kade Shatwell suffered his first loss on the mound this season in just his third start of 2024.
Oklahoma City 10, Mid-America Christian 6
W: Jacob Burkett (3-2)
L: Carlos Escobosa (2-1)
Key Leaders
- Trent Kiraly – 1-2, HR, 4 RBIs, R, 2 BB, SO
- Reese Ratchford – 2-4, 2B, 2 RBIs, R
- Tristan Williams – 2-3, 2 2B, R, RBI
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second straight game, MACU started the contest with a home run by Jacob Police in the second inning to go up 1-0 right out of the gate.
The Stars were not kept down long turning right around with an eight-run inning in the bottom of the second as Trent Kiraly launched a grand slam followed by a Reese Ratchford two RBI double that put OCU up 8-1.
Mid-America Christian (12-8, 3-2 SAC) was able to cut into the OCU lead and make it an 8-5 game after four innings of play.
Oklahoma City (15-9, 1-1 SAC) stretched its lead back out in the sixth with more runs as Aiden Van Rensum brought in Spencer Biggerstaff on a sacrifice fly after Tristan Williams was hit by a pitch with the base loaded that gave OCU its 10 run total.
GAME NOTES
- Oklahoma City scored double-digit runs for the eighth time this season using a big eight-run inning to earn the win in game two.
- The Stars were paced by four players with multiple base hits which included five extra base hits in the game.
- Once again Trent Kiraly sent a ball into orbit that left the park for the 11th time this year putting him third overall in the NAIA, just two back of tying the leader.
- Tristan Williams moved his hitting streak to 12 games after supplying a pair of extra-base hits giving him the team lead in doubles with 10.
- Reese Ratchford notched his second multi-hit game of the season by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
- Darian Duhon secured two hits in the game pushing his hitting streak to four games while scoring for the fifth time in six games giving Duhon 26 runs scored this season, the most on the team.
- Hunter Lenochan continued his hot streak with a pair of hits an RBI and a run scored to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
- Jacob Burkett earned his second consecutive win on the mound and his third overall this season by going six innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out three.
- After dropping the series a season ago, the Stars split the doubleheader on Sunday while moving the all-time series record to 42-7 in favor of OCU dating back to 2008.
WHAT'S NEXT
OCU and MACU will meet once more for the rubber match on Monday, Mar. 11 starting at 3 PM on Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium.
