Box Score CONWAY, Ark. (May 15, 2015) – As the innings clicked by without Oklahoma Christian recording a hit against McMurry (Texas) starter Mitch Labbie on Friday, the Eagles never panicked, knowing the breakthrough surely would come.
It did in the seventh inning, and once it came, the offensive floodgates opened. Top-seeded OC recorded all nine of its hits in the final three innings to rally for an 8-5 win over the second-seeded War Hawks at Victory Field in the winners' bracket final of the National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region tournament.
OC (31-20) moved within one win of what would be its third straight Central Region baseball title and berth in the NCCAA World Series, which will begin next Wednesday in Mason, Ohio. McMurry (31-12) remained alive in the losers' bracket, but the War Hawks would need to win three games Friday – two of those against OC – to win the regional crown.
Like all of the games the past two seasons between the former Heartland Conference rivals, Friday's OC-McMurry game was a tight affair. The War Hawks did eventually build a 5-0 lead against OC ace
Dillon Endecott, scoring twice in the second inning, twice in the third (with both runs scoring on Ben Douglas' double) and once more in the sixth.
Garett Hill (4-1) relieved Endecott with two outs in the sixth and went the rest of the way for the Eagles, shutting down McMurry on just one hit during 3 1/3 innings of work – Hill's longest outing of the season.
McMurry's defensive lapses proved to be Labbie's undoing in the seventh.
Derek Jones drew a leadoff walk and took second base on a balk on Labbie.
Kyle Lacy recorded OC's first hit, an infield single, and Labbie hit
Ben McKenzie with a pitch to load the bases.
Then the War Hawks committed two errors on one play. Senior
Jackson Matthews' single to center field scored Jones. A throwing error by Labbie on the play allowed Lacy to score, and McKenzie came around on a throwing error by center fielder Christian Simmons.
An RBI single by senior
Cody Rosecrans off McMurry reliever Casey Berryman (0-1) pulled the Eagles within 5-4, and by then OC had all the momentum.
A two-run double to right-center field by McKenzie scored
Jordan Lopez and Jones (who earlier had singled) to put OC ahead in the eighth inning and
Kolton Brown's RBI groundout scored Lacy to make it 7-5. OC added an insurance run in the ninth, as
Zac Cobble walked, Lopez doubled to center field and Jones drove in Cobble with a single.
"On a day we didn't hit well, we just were patient and finally got to their starter," OC coach
Lonny Cobble said. "We got some breaks late and Hill pitched great in relief. I'm very proud of our composure and our seniors picked it up late at the plate."
McMurry will face Central Baptist (Ark.) in the losers' bracket final at noon Saturday. The winner will play OC at 3 p.m., with an if-necessary game set for 6 p.m.
