OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 22, 2014) – Oklahoma Christian came oh-so-close on Saturday to recording what could have been a statement win for its baseball program, but such things don't come easy against St. Edward's (Texas).

The Hilltoppers – NCAA Division II semifinalists last season – trailed by three runs before a five-run seventh inning lifted them past OC 5-3 on a sunny, breezy afternoon at Dobson Field.

"I think we learned a lot about our ballclub," OC coach Lonny Cobble said. "I think we're better than people thought we were going to be. We think we're going to be a pretty good ballclub by the end of the year. We've just got some growing up to do and we've got some guys who need to get these ballgames under their belts.

"I think this is good for us. We don't like to lose, but good ballclubs find a way to win these games and by the end of the year, we're going to be winning these games."

OC (4-3, 1-2 Heartland Conference) had earned a doubleheader split on Friday against the Hilltoppers. On Saturday, the Eagles appeared to be on their way to a win in its debut Heartland series, leading 3-0 through six innings, thanks to stellar pitching by Tyler Sturges, who allowed just three hits and struck out six while walking four.

With Sturges on an early season pitch count, he didn't take the mound in the seventh and St. Edward's (9-5, 2-1) took advantage. St. Edward's had five hits against three OC relievers, including a game-tying two-run single by Wes Koenig, who finished 9-for-13 with seven RBIs during the series.

Koenig eventually scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and John Alexander added another run-scoring single to make it 5-3.

"He hit that 100-pitch mark and we decided to get him out of there," Cobble said of Sturges. "If this is April or May, we probably leave him in for at least one more inning, but we've got lots of baseball left to play. We're going to have to have that guy down at the end of the road and we just felt it was better to take him out and try to get some experience with some of these younger guys."

The Eagles couldn't advance a baserunner past second base during the final three innings against reliever Cam Hatch, who recorded his first save of the season. Reliever Cody Ellerbee (2-0) was the beneficiary of the St. Edward's rally, picking up the win after throwing just 2/3 of an inning.

"We were close," Cobble said. "Like we told the ballclub, we jump out on these guys 3-0 early and then we just kind of sat on that lead and we kind of turned it over to Sturges. That was what kind of did last year. We would score two or three runs and hope that our pitching was going to hold on. That doesn't happen against good teams. We let those guys hang around and they found a way to scratch some runs across and put the pressure back on us. We just didn't get it done in those late innings."

OC took a 1-0 lead in the first when Markus Carr singled and scored and went up 3-0 on Carr's two-run double in the second inning. But the Eagles proved unable to generate much offense after that.

Reliever Dylon Sturges (0-1) took the loss for the Eagles after facing two batters in the seventh.

OC will return to action Tuesday with a doubleheader at Southeastern Oklahoma State.