Game one box
Game two box

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 14, 2009) – Despite outhitting Briar Cliff (Iowa) 14-11 in two games on Saturday, Oklahoma Christian University lost a pair of one-run decisions at Dobson Field.

The Eagles dropped the first game 5-4 in nine innings, before falling in the nightcap 4-3. The losses take Oklahoma Christian to 2-2 on the young 2009 season.

Freshman Dillon Andrews was the offensive standout for the Eagles for the second-straight day. The speedy outfielder went a combined 5-for-7 with three triples and two runs scored in Saturday's losing efforts. He is now 9-for-14 at the plate for a team-best .643 batting average.

Briar Cliff went up 2-0 in the first game on a second-inning Matt Sauter single. The score held before OC made it 2-1 in the fourth when Ray Long tripled into right centerfield, then scored on a Jordan Price sacrifice fly.

OC then locked it up at 2-2 in the sixth inning after Andrews swatted one of his three triples, then charged home on a squeeze play.

The game remained deadlocked into extra innings of the regularly-scheduled seven-inning affair.

In the top of the ninth, the Crusaders put up three runs to assume a 5-2 lead, but the Eagles weren't done yet. Jeff Davis doubled home Tyler Gipson before Justin Ebert singled up the middle to plate David Garner to make it 5-4.

But OC failed to push any more runs across and BC snuck away with the win.

Andrews and Gipson each went 2-for-4 in the first game, while Long (1-for-4), Davis (1-for-4) and Ebert (1-for-1) collected the Eagles' other hits.

Starting pitcher Ryan Kirk – a senior transfer from NCAA Division I Louisiana-Monroe – had an excellent OC debut, going 5.0 innings and allowing two earned runs on just three hits. He struck out four and walked only two.

Brady Hamar suffered the loss in relief after pitching 2.1 innings, while Charlie Benz got the win for the Crusaders.

The second game gave fans a chance to see the newly-installed lights at Dobson Field as the game moved into the early evening hours.

BC took a first-inning 2-0 lead, but OC stormed back with two of their own in the home half to tie it up. Price singled home fellow Carl Albert High School product Andrews, then Garner laid down a textbook bunt single in front of the pitcher to bring home Long.

The Crusaders led 3-2 after three innings of action, then the Eagles tied it again in the bottom of the fourth when Quaid Johns doubled down the right-field line and scored on an Andrews base hit.

But the Crusaders pushed the go-ahead score across in the top of the fifth to go on top for good.

Andrews went 3-for-3 in the second game to account for nearly half of the Eagles' seven hits. Long (1-for-2), Price (1-for-4), Garner (1-for-3) and Johns (1-for-3) recorded the rest of OC's offense.

Ebert started game two and lasted 4.0 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. The Stillwater, Okla., freshman sat down seven Crusaders via strikeout, but also posted six walks.

The Eagles look to get back in the win column when they travel to Muskogee, Okla., on Feb. 17 for a 1 p.m. meeting with Bacone College (Okla.). OC returns home on Feb. 19 to open Sooner Athletic Conference play against Northwestern Oklahoma State.

-OC-