Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (April 8, 2017) – Searching for a consistent RBI provider after a key player was sidelined due to injury, Oklahoma Christian might have found one this weekend against Oklahoma Panhandle State.

Senior Kolton Brown capped a 5-for-6 series performance with his second home run in as many days and OC rolled to an 11-1 win on Saturday afternoon over OPSU, sweeping the three-game series against the Aggies at Dobson Field.

OC (21-16, 8-7 Heartland Conference) needed the sweep to remain in the thick of the race for one of four spots in the league's postseason tournament. OC finished the week in sixth place but is only one game out of fourth place.

"It was a good three wins for us," OC coach Lonny Cobble said. "At this point, we just need to win. Stats don't matter. You just have to win, no matter who does what. We needed these three and we got a little bit of help from a couple of teams in conference. Hopefully that trend continues.

"I think our guys at this point are just thinking we just have to get to the conference tournament and try to win that and give ourselves a chance. That's the big thing. I think there's a little more sense of urgency on that part of it. I don't think they've thought about anything else."

The Eagles were dealt a blow last weekend at St. Edward's (Texas), when their top home-run hitter, Cory Duran, suffered a season-ending injury. Cobble said the Eagles needed someone – or several someones – to step forward to provide the offense that Duran had given the Eagles and Brown did just that against OPSU (8-29, 1-11).

The senior from Yukon entered the series with one home run and four RBIs on the season, but finished with three and 10, respectively. On Saturday, he went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, three on a fifth-inning home run that kick-started the Eagles offensively.

"Kolton had a good series," Cobble said. "Kind of our idea going into the weekend was playing a lot of guys, trying to find somebody to fill the void. We need Kolton to hit like. We've to have him, Jake Baxter, Josh Garbrecht, Chad Kennedy, Lane Paul – two of those have got to be hitting on cylinders and driving in runs for us."

Through 3½ innings, the Aggies had outhit OC 5-1 but hadn't scored. The Eagles finally broke through in the fourth when Jared Price hit a leadoff double against OPSU starter Josh Casillas (0-3) and scored on a single by Brown. Connor Litterell drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0.

Brown's homer in the fifth made it 5-0. After Panhandle State scored its only run in the top of the sixth, a two-run single by Hayden Strobel highlighted a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth that extended OC's lead to 9-1.

Logan Gipson's two-run single with one out in the eighth scored price and Zac Bycko, who each had walked, and ended the game via the 10-run rule.

OC's starting pitcher, Jake Collins (1-2), struck out five and allowed six hits in six innings before Gabe Rodery and Zach Pape each tossed a scoreless inning for the Eagles. Collins also batted for the first time this season on Friday and went 2-for-4.

"The pitching was great, all weekend, from everybody," Cobble said. "I couldn't be more pleased with that. Hopefully we'll carry the momentum into Tuesday and next weekend."

The Eagles will host crosstown rival Southern Nazarene on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before heading north to Wichita, Kan., for a league series at Newman on Thursday and Friday.