Game one box
Game two box

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 13, 2009) – The Oklahoma Christian University baseball team picked up wins of 3-2 and 8-3 in a doubleheader sweep of Peru State College (Neb.) on Friday at Dobson Field.

The season-opening wins take Oklahoma Christian to 2-0 on the year. The team returns to Dobson Field tomorrow for a doubleheader against Briar Cliff (Iowa) at 1 p.m.

Senior centerfielder Ray Long was the walkoff hero in game one. With two runners on, and the score tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Long lined a base hit into left-center to score Josh Balch and send the Eagles to a 3-2 victory.

Oklahoma Christian went ahead 1-0 in the third inning when Jordan Price smoked a triple past the reach of Peru State centerfielder Ryan Baroudi to plate Dillon Andrews. Then Tyler Gipson upped OC's lead to 2-0 when he knocked in Price.

It looked like OC would pick up a shutout, but PSC got a two-run homer from Brandon Schrupp in the top of the seventh inning to force the game into the bottom half where Long ended it.

Brady Hamar got the win for OC after 1.2 innings of work in relief. He replaced starter Tyler Sutton, who turned in a superb 5.1-inning, one-hit, no-run effort. Sutton struck out four and walked seven.

Andrews – a freshman from Midwest City, Okla. – went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot with a run scored. He laid down a crucial bunt single in the bottom of the seventh that set up the game winner.

Gipson finished game one 2-for-3 at the plate, while Price (1-for-2) and Long (1-for-3) got the Eagles' other hits.

It was the Bobcats (0-2) who jumped out early in the nightcap after Will Hays drove in a run on an infield hit in the first inning.

PSC was up 2-0 when the Eagles mounted consecutive four-run innings to bust the game open.

The first four-run job came in the fifth. Josh Balch hit an opposite-field RBI triple into the right-field corner to plate Justin Ebert to get the comeback started. Quaid Johns then plated Balch with a sac fly before Long did more damage with a two-RBI double to make it 4-2 OC.

Then in the sixth, all four runs came home when Andrews popped a grand slam over the centerfield wall.

Ryan Morris went the distance for the Eagles to pick up the seven-inning victory. The sophomore struck out six and walked just two while surrendering only two earned runs on six hits.

Long went 2-for-4 in the second game, while Andrews (1-for-3), Price (1-for-3), Jeff Davis (1-for-2) and Balch (1-for-2) completed the Eagles' six-hit game.

Andrews went 4-for-7 with four RBIs in his impressive debut, while Long finished the day 3-for-7 with three driven in.

-OC-