Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 FORT SMITH, Ark. (April 27, 2018) – Oklahoma Christian's hopes of making the Heartland Conference baseball postseason tournament took a major hit on Friday at Crowder Field.
Needing a successful showing against the South Central Region's top-ranked team – national No. 25 Arkansas-Fort Smith – the Eagles fell 3-0 and 12-9, putting them four games out of a potential conference tournament bid with only six remaining.
Two of those games for OC (20-23, 9-13 Heartland) will be on Saturday at UAFS (31-12, 16-6).
In the opener, the Eagles managed only four hits against UAFS pitcher Javon Rigsby (6-3). OC advanced only two runners as far as third base. One of those came in the fifth inning. With the game tied 0-0,
Julien Ly walked and went to second base on an attempted double steal on which teammate
Drew Wright was thrown out.
Callen Crockett followed with an infield single and Ly tried to score from second, but UAFS shortstop Drew Duncan threw Ly out at home plate.
In the bottom of the fifth, Brandan Warner broke the tie with a two-run single off OC starter
Connor Litterell (2-2). Dion Williams hit a solo home run for the Lions in the sixth to make it 3-0.
OC jumped to leads of 3-0 and 5-2 in the second game, but trailed 8-5 before a three-run seventh pulled the Eagles even.
Ryan Ward, who had three RBIs, drove in one run with a single and
Brice Smith (who also had three RBIs) followed with a run-scoring single of his own before
Slater Springman drew a bases-loaded walk. The Eagles left the bases loaded, however, and the Lions took advantage.
UAFS seized control with a four-run eighth, keyed by Duncan's two-run triple, which was the Lions' only hit of the inning to go with three walks and an error. The Lions also scored a run when Duncan came home from third base while the Eagles had another UAFS runner in a rundown between first and second base.
OC rallied in the ninth against reliever Korbin Polly (5-0), pulling with 12-9 on Austin Stroke's RBI single. That brought the potential tying run to the plate, but Boston Heil relieved Polly and coaxed a fielder's-choice ground ball from
Jake Collins to end the game. Heil picked up his first save of the season.
Ly (0-1), the fifth of six OC pitchers, took the loss after giving up two runs (but no hits) in one-third of an inning.
