CLEBURNE, Texas (Feb. 9, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian baseball coaches raved about
Zachary Pape in the preseason, saying the fifth-year senior pitcher had taken a quantum leap during the offseason. Pape showed on Saturday why he'd received such praise.
The right-hander from Wheat Ridge, Colo., allowed only one run over six innings, allowing an early OC lead to hold up as the Eagles downed Colorado Christian 4-1 in the third-place game of the Alpine Fresh 4Him Classic at The Depot at Cleburne Station.
Blake Empkey delivered a two-run single during a three-run third inning for OC (6-1), which has to be among the most surprising teams in NCAA Division II's South Central Region in the early part of the 2019 baseball season.
Pape (1-0), mostly a spot reliever for the Eagles until this season, has put together solid outings in his two starts this season. He allowed seven hits against Colorado Christian (2-2), but the Cougars – who play in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – scored off him only once, when Tommy Orr doubled and scored in the fifth inning, after Pape had returned to the mound after a rain delay of almost an hour.
By then, the Eagles already had built a four-run lead.
Hunter Markwardt started the game with a triple off Colorado Christian starter Kyler Riordan (0-1) and scored to make it 1-0, and the Eagles had four hits in the third inning, including Empkey's two-run single to right field. A sacrifice fly by
Alex Garcia scored
Callen Crockett to make it 4-0.
The Cougars threatened in the sixth with three hits, but a double play helped Pape – who had four strikeouts – escape that jam.
Chase Berberich pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the Eagles, and after OC batted in the top of the eighth, the game was called due to rain, giving Berberich a perhaps unexpected save.
Markwardt, Empkey and
Errett Edwards each had two hits for OC. Three Eagles made the 16-man all-tournament team – Garcia, Crockett and pitcher
Gabe Rodery.
The Eagles won't play again until Feb. 19, when they will visit Southwestern Oklahoma State.