BETHANY, Okla. (March 5, 2019) –
Hunter Markwardt hit what proved to be a decisive two-run double in the eighth inning and Oklahoma Christian hung on in the ninth to edge archrival Southern Nazarene 6-5 on a chilly Tuesday afternoon at Feland Field.
OC (11-2), ranked sixth in the South Central Region, extended its winning streak to five games, the second time this baseball season the Eagles have won five in a row. But Southern Nazarene (4-12) made the Eagles work hard for the win.
The Eagles scored once in each of the first two innings to take the early lead. In the first,
Errett Edwards' single to left field scored
Callen Crockett, who had singled with one out, then stole second base.
Alex Garcia drew a two-out walk in the second and scored when
Brayden Bafaro tripled to right-center field, making it 2-0.
SNU tied the game in the third on a two-run single by Shelby Reese and the Crimson Storm blanked OC until the sixth. The Eagles regained the lead when Edwards doubled down the left-field line, took third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch by SNU's David Lechuga (0-1).
In the seventh, Markwardt, a junior from Argyle, Texas, doubled to left field, took third on a wild pitch by Brandon Rezek and scored on a sacrifice fly by Crockett. Markwardt doubled again in the eighth, also to left field, to bring home
Garrett Wages and Garcia and the Eagles led 6-2.
But the Crimson Storm rallied with four hits in the eighth, including RBI singles by Tanner Ladon and Connor Dayton, to cut that deficit in half. Facing OC closer
Jared Price in the ninth, SNU scratched out a run on an error and three wild pitches and had the potential tying and winning runs on base before Price retired Mason Haydock on a fly ball to right field to end the game.
Price recorded his fifth save of the season, tops in the Heartland Conference. OC used nine pitchers, each of whom threw an inning, with
Conner Fryrear (1-0) picking up the win.
Markwardt and
Blake Empkey each had three hits for OC. Empkey, a freshman from Bedford, Texas, leads OC and the Heartland with a .457 batting average.
OC will return to action Friday, when they will visit Heartland Conference rival Arkansas-Fort Smith for a 3 p.m. doubleheader to begin a three-game series that won't count in the league standings. UAFS is ranked No. 10 in the South Central Region.
