Game one box
Game two box
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (March 8, 2008) – The Oklahoma Christian baseball team completed a season sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma State with two wins on Saturday at Dobson Field.
The first win was a 10-0 run-rule shutout on a one-hitter from Riley Jones. The second game was an 8-7 Eagle win on the strength of Chance Nichols' walk-off home run in the eight inning.
OC finished the day with 21 hits, six coming via the long ball.
The wins inched the Eagles' overall record closer to the .500 mark at 8-9-1. OC also moved to 3-9 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
OC needed only five frames to put NWOSU away in game one. The Eagles plated five runs in the first inning to set the tone for the blowout.
Josh Balch delivered the big blow with a two-RBI double into the right-centerfield gap. Fellow Ada, Okla., native Quaid Johns singled home Balch to put the Eagles up 5-0 through one.
After a run on a second-inning Jordan Price RBI-two-baser, the Eagles brought four across the plate in the fourth inning to secure the win.
Price led off the inning with a line-drive homer over the left field wall. Then after Ray Long singled up the middle, Jeff Davis ripped a towering home run out to left.
Finally, Tyler Gipson smashed his team-leading sixth four-bagger over the left field fence to put OC up 10-0.
Jones (3-1) sat the Rangers down in order in the top of the fifth secure the win.
The Edmond, Okla., product struck out five batters and faced the minimum in every inning but the third. He did not record a walk in the game.
Price was 2-for-2 with two driven in and two scored. Long also tallied a 2-for-2 game with two runs scored.
Game two came down to the final at-bat where Nichols became the hero.
NWOSU rallied to tie the score at 7-7 in the seventh on a bloop single by Tom Huddleston.
The Eagles went down in order in the home half, then Tim Dodd got NWOSU to do the same in the top of the eighth.
After Long and Balch were retired to start OC's eighth, Nichols launched a massive homer over the left field wall that fell just shy of the Ray Vaughn Track and Field Complex.
The bomb set off a dugout-clearing celebration at home plate around Nichols.
OC led 2-0 after an inning of play in game two. Balch drove in Price, who doubled to start the inning, to make it 1-0. Then Nichols lifted a sacrifice fly to center that plated Balch.
But the Rangers got two in the second, then another in the third to grab their first lead of the day at 3-2.
OC got a run on a Chris Miller solo-homer to trail 6-3 entering the bottom of the fifth.
That's when Davis connected on a pinch-hit three-run homer, his second of the day, to knot the game at 6-6.
The Eagles went up 7-6 the next inning. Price went from first to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run play by Balch. Price then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch to set the table for the final two innings.
Miller was 3-for-4 in game two while Nichols finished 2-for-5. Dodd (3-0) went three innings and surrendered just one run on three hits.
OC looks to win its fourth straight on Tuesday against Iowa Wesleyan at Dobson Field. The first pitch is set for 12 p.m.
