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Box Score 2 OKLAHOMA CITY (March 17, 2018) –
Skyler Martin and two relievers allowed only six hits and Oklahoma Christian took advantage of five errors – including three in one inning – by Arkansas-Fort Smith to give the Eagles a 5-3 win on Saturday in the opening game of a doubleheader.
UAFS took the second game at Dobson Field 7-0, giving the Lions three wins in the league-mandated four-game nonconference series between the Heartland Conference baseball foes. UAFS (14-6) will host OC (9-9) for a four-game series that will count in the league standings on April 27-28.
UAFS took a quick 2-0 lead on three hits in the first inning of the opener, but Martin (3-0) settled down and allowed only one more hit, and no more runs, over the next four innings.
OC scored three runs in the first off UAFS starter Jordan Lawrence (2-1), with
Chad Kennedy and
Alex Garcia delivering run-scoring singles and an error on UAFS third baseman Drew Duncan – who had three miscues in the game – allowing another run to score. Three two-base errors in the fifth inning (two on dropped fly balls) resulted in two more runs for the Eagles in the third inning.
After Matthew Fussellman pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning, OC closer
Jake Collins survived a rocky seventh, giving up only one run while recording his league-leading fifth save of the season.
In the second game, UAFS pitcher Javon Rigsby (2-0) was brilliant, allowing only three singles and striking out nine batters in the complete-game effort – more impressive considering he had pitched only 9 2/3 innings all season before Saturday. Only one OC baserunner advanced as far as second base, that in the ninth inning when the Lions led 7-0.
OC starter
Robbie Suhr (2-1) opened with four shutout innings, but surrendered a two-run double down the left-field line to Jace Pitchford in the fifth. UAFS added three more runs in the sixth, two on a single by Logan Allen and another on an error on the play. Troy Cahill's two-run double in the ninth finished out the scoring for the Lions.
The Eagles will visit Southwestern Oklahoma State for a nonconference game at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
