Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FORT SMITH, Ark. (April 28, 2018) – With their proverbial backs against the wall, the Oklahoma Christian Eagles pulled out a win in a baseball game they had to have on Saturday afternoon at Crowder Field.

Jake Collins' double keyed a five-run first inning and the Eagles down Heartland Conference-leading Arkansas-Fort Smith 7-3 to salvage the final game of a four-game series against the Lions. No. 25 UAFS – the top team in the NCAA Division II South Central Region rankings – rallied to win Saturday's opener 9-7.

OC (21-24, 10-14 Heartland) trails fourth-place Lubbock Christian (Texas) and Newman (Kan.) by three games in the league race with only one four-game series remaining for each team. OC will host Rogers State next Friday and Saturday, while Lubbock Christian will host UAFS (32-13, 17-7) and Newman will visit St. Mary's (Texas).

Lubbock Christian owns the series tiebreaker over OC, while OC and Newman split their regular-season league series. The top four teams in the Heartland regular-season standings will advance to the conference tournament.

The Eagles jumped on UAFS starter Zach Burch (3-3) quickly in the second game, with Burch not even recording an out in the first inning. Callen Crockett, Kyle Bottger, Hunter Markwardt and Ryan Ward all singled to start the game, with Markwardt and Ward each driving in a run. Collins then doubled to center field to score Markwardt and Ward and later scored himself on a wild pitch.

OC starter Skyler Martin ran into trouble in the third inning, so coach Lonny Cobble turned to reliever Matt Fusselman (1-2), who escaped the bases-loaded jam with a groundout after the Lions scored a run. Fusselman gave way to Luke Reynolds, who pitched two shutout innings before Collins threw a season-high four innings to pick up his league-leading seventh save of the season.

Collins also picked up his third RBI of the game with a seventh-inning single to score Ward.

In the opener, OC jumped ahead 2-0 on a two-run home run by Alex Garcia in the second inning and a two-run third – keyed by Kyle Bottger's double to right field – put the Eagles up 4-0.

The Lions pulled within 4-3 on Troy Cahill's three-run homer in the bottom of the third and tied the game in the fifth, taking advantage of two OC errors.

Again, the Eagles took the lead as Bottger smacked a three-run homer in the top of the sixth, but the Lions responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning, capped by Anthony Seminaris' three-run homer off OC starter Gabe Rodery (3-4) that put UAFS up 9-7.

Reliever Boston Heil (1-0) pitched two-third of an inning to pick up the pitching win for UAFS.