Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (March 14, 2016) – With the wind blowing out to left field, home runs figured to come in bunches on Monday afternoon when Oklahoma Christian hosted No. 9-ranked St. Edward's (Texas). Unfortunately for OC, most of them were hit by the Hilltoppers, and specifically Romeo Cortina.

Cortina slammed four homers and had six RBIs to lead St. Edward's to a 10-5 win at Dobson Field, although the Eagles still won the three-game series thanks to their doubleheader sweep of the Hilltoppers on Saturday.

While OC coach Lonny Cobble certainly would have taken a series sweep of St. Edward's (17-7, 1-2 Heartland Conference), he was pleased the Eagles (10-9, 2-1) picked up the series win against one of the nation's top NCAA Division II baseball squads.

"They're a good team, but I think we are, too," Cobble said. "Not a lot of teams are going to take a series from those guys, so us doing so now could pay off down the road."

Of the six home runs hit Monday, only one was by the Eagles, and it was no surprise who hit it. Jake Baxter's two-run shot in the first inning was his third of the series and ninth of the season and put OC up 2-0.

Cortina's first home run, off OC starter Jared Sterling (1-2) was a solo shot in the second inning. Joseph Olson hit a two-run homer in the third to pull St. Edward's even at 3-3. Cortina led off the fourth with another solo shot to give the Hilltoppers a 4-3 lead.

Derek Jones' two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fourth swung the lead back to OC at 5-4, but Cortina's third homer off Sterling was a two-run shot and put the Hilltoppers back ahead 6-5.

Cortina's fourth at-bat was a turning point in the game. He hit a ground ball that OC third baseman Ben McKenzie fielded and threw to first base for what appeared to be the Hilltoppers' second out of the inning. But St. Edward's coach Rob Penders – who had chewed on the umpires most of the game – protested and convinced them to reverse the call and rule Cortina's grounder as a foul ball.

Given new life, Cortina hit a two-run homer off OC reliever Garett Hill, and the floodgates opened for a four-run inning by St. Edward's, giving the Hilltoppers a cushion.

St. Edward's pitcher Eric Hester – who had surrendered the game-winning home run to Baxter in the series' second game – threw six innings of relief to move to 3-2 on the season.

Ironically, Cortina didn't even set a program or Heartland Conference record with his four home runs. Josh Hamilton of St. Edward's set the standing Division II single-game record with five homers against Oklahoma Panhandle State on April 18, 2003.

OC will play a nonconference game Tuesday at Southwestern Oklahoma State before visiting Rogers State for a key conference series on Friday and Saturday. Rogers State won two of three games this past weekend against another Heartland power, St. Mary's (Texas).