Box Score BETHANY, Okla. (April 10, 2018) –
Julien Ly and
Matthew Foster hit their first career home runs, senior pitcher
Garett Hill made his first-ever plate appearance and another senior,
Dylan Fazekas, made his much-anticipated return on the mound for Oklahoma Christian.
It was a good afternoon all around for the Eagles, who scored seven first-inning runs while cruising to a 16-2 win over archrival Southern Nazarene at Feland Field.
Seniors
Chad Kennedy and
Kyle Bottger – playing in his hometown – each had four RBIs for OC (16-16), which reached the .500 mark for the first time since Feb. 2, when the Eagles were 1-1. OC has won four in a row and six of its last seven heading into a key Heartland Conference baseball series this Friday and Saturday at home against Newman (Kan.).
The Eagles jumped on SNU starter Connor Gaughan (0-1) for seven runs in just one-third of an inning.
Alex Garcia hit a single to bring home Bottger with the first run,
Garrett Wages hit a two-run single to left and Kennedy delivered the big blow, a bases-loaded double to left-center field off reliever Hugo Kinebuchi.7
Staked to the big early lead, OC junior left-hander
Michael Basler (1-1) gave up a leadoff home run to SNU's Austin Cooper, but allowed only one more hit in four innings of work before giving way to Fazekas. Fazekas threw one shutout inning – picking a runner off first base – in his first appearance since Feb. 18, 2017. He sat out the rest of last season and the first part of this season due to injury.
Bottger hit a two-run single to put OC up 10-1 in the third inning and Ly's three-run homer in the fourth – a line drive over the right-field wall – made it 13-1. Bottger – who went 3-for-4 – hit a two-run homer in the fifth and Foster smashed a solo shot in the sixth. Six of the Eagles' 14 hits went for extra bases.
Hill's at-bat came in the sixth, in relief of
Austin Stokes, who left after a foul ball hit him in the head. Hill grounded out, then finished the game in right field – his first appearance for OC that didn't involve pitching.
Jake Tomcheck pitched a scoreless sixth and
James Batton finished the game on the mound for the Eagles.
