SAN ANTONIO (April 26, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian struggled to generate much offense on Friday against St. Mary's (Texas), and as a result, a promising season has reached a critical juncture.

St. Mary's downed the Eagles 1-0 and 11-1 at Dickson Stadium, dropping OC – which entered the series ranked fifth in the NCAA's South Central Region rankings – into fourth place in the Heartland Conference standings.

The top four teams qualify for the Heartland postseason tournament, and entering the series finale on Saturday, OC (27-17, 9-8) holds a slim lead over St. Mary's (28-18, 8-9) for the final spot, with the Rattlers holding the tiebreaker thanks to the Friday sweep.

To make matters worse, the Rattlers ended Hunter Markwardt's school-record hitting streak at 28 games, holding OC's leadoff batter hitless on the day for the first time since March 8.

The opener was a pitching duel between OC junior left-hander Gabe Rodery (7-2), the reigning Heartland pitcher of the week, and Mason Minister (6-0) of St. Mary's. Rodery allowed only five hits over seven innings, Minister only three.

Rodery escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning thanks to a popup and double play, and the Eagles turned another double play in the third inning to thwart another St. Mary's scoring opportunity.

OC's best chance to score came in the sixth. Grant Lake led off with a single to left field and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Austin Stokes. Minister retired Markwardt on a ground ball to second base, with Lake advancing to third, and after walking Callen Crockett, Minister struck out OC's RBI leader, Blake Empkey, who had the Eagles' other two hits in the game.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jake Mares singled up the middle with one out and moved up to second base on a fly ball to left field before scoring on a single to left field by Ryan McGowen, ending the game.

St. Mary's seized control in the second game with a five-run second inning against OC starter Brent McDonald (0-1). The Eagles scored their lone run of the day in the top of the fourth on a leadoff home run by Alex Garcia, but the Rattlers answered with a run in the bottom of the inning and another in the fifth.

The Rattlers scored four more runs in the seventh, building their lead to 11-1 and ending the game due to the 10-run rule.