OKLAHOMA CITY—The Oklahoma City University Baseball team began its postseason journey with a first-round matchup against the Southwestern Christian University Eagles. OCU entered the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament as the fifth seed, while SCU was the fourth seed. The opening round consists of a three-game series between foes. On Friday, OCU collected two wins in exciting fashion to eliminate the higher-seeded Eagles. With the two wins on Friday, the Stars advance to the second weekend of the SAC tournament.
GAME 1: OCU 5, SCU 4
Top Performers
Hunter Brown: 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, HR (2)
Andrew Limbaugh: 9.0 IP, CG, 8 K, 2 BB
Only one run was scored by either offense during the first seven innings. The starting pitchers dominated from the start and combined for 22 strikeouts. Stars' Starter Andrew Limbaugh accounted for eight of the 22 total punchouts. Elian Cuevas, the starter for SCU, collected 14 strikeouts against the OCU offense, with the sole run allowed coming in the second inning.
Hunter Brown sent a solo home run over the outfield wall in the top of the second to open the scoring up for OCU. The Stars would not see any more offense until the eighth inning when they pushed across four runs.
Limbaugh pitched under control and held the Eagles' offense in check until the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the top of the eighth inning, OCU amassed a crooked number, starting with Trent Kiraly reaching on an error by the SCU defense that allowed Ethan Rhodes to score from third. Barrett Daniel then put a SAC fly in play that brought a run home for the Stars—Nic Bennett scored on the play. The Stars' backstop struck again with another homer in the eighth inning, this time a two-run blast that scored Kiraly.
SCU made things interesting in the bottom half of the eighth inning when they tallied a run on a single by Gregory Berroa. The Eagles cut the OCU lead to 5-1 going into their half of the ninth inning.
In the ninth, Dario Paredes connected on a home run to trim the lead down to 5-2. An RBI single by Kyler Ayres scored another run for the Eagles. Joey Thornton notched an RBI single of his own to bring the game within one run at 5-4.
Ultimately, Limbaugh and the Stars' defense were able to shut the door on SCU to take game one of the doubleheader. OCU recorded the final out on a fielder's choice.
Game 2: OCU 15, SCU 5 (8 Inn)
Top Performers
Ethan Rhodes: 3-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2B (2), BB
Barrett Daniel: 4-5, 2 R, 5 RBI, HR, BB
In game two, OCU opened the scoring early with a six-run second inning. Later in the game, OCU amassed six additional runs between the fourth and the sixth innings before adding three more runs in the eighth inning. The Stars' offense clicked on all cylinders and performed efficiently, scoring 15 runs on 15 hits.
The first two runs of the game scored by OCU came from SCU errors in the infield. After the errors, OCU scored two runs on an Ethan Rhodes single that was lasered up the middle—Anthony Kopecky and Oliver Falvey scored on the hit by Rhodes. Nic Bennett then recorded an RBI double to left center, scoring Rhodes. Barrett Daniel proceeded to single to center field and recorded an RBI, giving the Stars a 6-0 lead.
The Eagles then chipped away at the Stars' lead by generating one run in the second inning and one in the third.
OCU took a 6-2 lead into the fourth inning, but ended up adding two more runs in their half of the fourth to extend their lead to 8-2. Daniel recorded a double that scored Rhodes and Hunter Lenochan.
SCU answered in the bottom of the fourth inning with three runs scored to edge slightly closer to the Stars, but the latter part of the game belonged to OCU.
In the fifth inning, OCU scored another run on an Ethan Rhodes double down the right field line, which scored Eli Hill from third base. The Stars added more cushion to their lead with a three-run sixth inning.
Daniel continued his hot hitting with his fourth RBI of the contest when he connected on a home run to left field. Lenochan then recorded a single that generated two runs scored for OCU—one on the hit and another on an error by SCU.
The Stars added enough runs in the third to activate the run-rule, starting with a wild pitch that brought a run home in for OCU. Proceeding the wild pitch, Kiraly reached on a fielder's choice and Lenochan scored. OCU tallied their 15th run of the game when Daniel notched his fifth RBI of the contest. The Stars' left fielder doubled down the left field line and brought Rhodes across home plate.
On top of a potent offense, OCU received phenomenal relief pitching from Frankie Danel III, who entered the game in the fourth inning. Danel recorded 4.1 IP and allowed no walks, no runs with only one hit while fanning six Eagles' hitters.
OCU eliminated SCU from the SAC tournament and will play in the second weekend of the tournament. The four winners of the opening weekend series will play in a double-elimination format during the second weekend of the tournament.
Next Up
Oklahoma City will continue its postseason push in the SAC tournament. The second weekend of the conference tournament will take place from May 2 to 4 at Bill Smith Ballpark on the campus of USAO. The exact matchups for the Stars have yet to be determined.
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