OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City baseball team held on for a 5-3 victory in the SAC Tournament opening game on Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium.

Oklahoma City Stars – 5

Southwestern Christian Eagles  — 3

Game Summary

 The Oklahoma City Stars used a four run first inning to hold on to a 5-3 win against the Southwestern Christian Eagles Friday afternoon on Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium. SCU scored a run in the top of the first before Oklahoma City built a 4-1 lead in the first. OCU began its run with a pair of RBI singles from Darian Duhon and Chad Pike to take a 2-1 advantage.

A two-run homer by Barrett Daniel finished off the four-run first and turned out to be just enough for the Stars to hold on too. Oklahoma City added one more for insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly from Duhon for his second RBI of the day to extend to a 5-3 lead. Chad Pike came in to shut the door on the Eagles in the ninth issuing three fly balls to earn the save and clinch a 5-3 win. 

Game Notes

-For the seventh consecutive year Oklahoma City has won its conference tournament opening game.

-Kade Shatwell (7-1) pitched a season-high 8.0  innings to earn the win. He allowed three runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

-Chad Pike entered the game in the ninth inning and sat down all three batters he faced for his 12 save of the year, moving into a tie for the NAIA lead. He has not yielded a run in 11 of his last 12 outings and has allowed just three hits over 10.1 innings with 10 strikeouts in that span.

-Trent Kiraly led OCU with two hits, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Kiraly snapped an 0-for-7 streak with his 20th multi-hit game of the season.

-Barrett Daniel continued to stay at the plate launching his third home run in the last four games and his 10th total of the year. Over the past six games, Daniel has scored six times, blasted three home runs and collected 10 RBI.

-Darian Duhon collected multiple RBI for the first time since Mar. 16 as the junior as went 1-for-3 with a run scored including the sacrifice fly in the eighth inning. 

-Aiden Alexander hit for the third straight game as the Stars premier center fielder went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Alexander has collected a hit in 19 of his last 21 games and added his eighth double of the year in today's game coming in the eighth inning of play.

-OCU took Southwestern Christian for the fifth time in the last six meetings and move to 29-6 against the Eagles since 2014.

Next Up
Oklahoma City will take on Southwestern Assemblies of God in the winner's bracket contest at 12:10 p.m. Saturday on Denney Crabaugh Field at Jim Wade Stadium. The winner will move on to Sunday whereas the loser will matchup with Southwestern at the game to follow.