SHAWNEE, Okla. (April 9, 2019) – The final score resembled that of a football game, but it was Oklahoma Christian's baseball team that piled on the touchdowns, er, runs on a wild Tuesday night at Bison Field at Ford Park.

Down 16-9 after five innings, OC's bullpen began shutting down Oklahoma Baptist's bats and the Eagles began pouring it on offensively, outscoring the Bison 12-1 in the final four innings for a 21-17 win.

OC (22-11) won the season series from OBU (20-17) for the second time in three seasons, but this is the first season the Eagles have gone 2-0 against the Bison – who made the NCAA Division II tournament last season – since OC revived its baseball program with the 2008 season. The 21 runs scored by OC were the most in a game by the Eagles since they beat Crowley's Ridge (Ark.) 23-7 on May 6, 2014.

Monday's craziness included eight home runs – including three by OBU's No. 9 hitter, Joey Pledger, who had eight RBIs – along with 25 walks (16 issued by OBU pitchers), 30 hits (16 for OC, 14 for OBU), four hit batsmen (all by OC pitchers), 14 pitchers (seven for each team) and only one 1-2-3 inning, that when OBU starter Hudson Pearson retired the Eagles in order in the top of the second inning.

Every starter on both teams scored at least one run and all but one – OBU's Ramon Enriquez – had at least one hit. OC's leadoff hitter, Hunter Markwardt, went 4 for 6 with a double, a triple and a career-high five RBIs while extending his hitting streak to 19 games. OC freshman Blake Empkey went 3 for 5 with three RBIs, all on a ninth-inning triple that gave the Eagles a four-run cushion.

"The hitters did a really good job. We kept battling back," OC coach Lonny Cobble said. "We were asking the pitching staff to put up a zero somewhere to give us a little breathing room. The most impressive thing was, when we were down seven, I heard two or three guys say we were going to come back and win this game. They just kept battling and just kept getting it done."

OC's only two scoreless innings came in the second and third. The Eagles scored five runs in the fourth, three on a home run by Errett Edwards, to take a 7-5 lead but gave up six in the bottom of the inning on just one hit by OBU.

OC's Berry Hunt hit a two-run homer in the fifth to pull OC within 11-9, but the Bison answered with five more runs in the bottom of the inning, three scoring on a bloop single by Kaden Betsch. Betsch later scored to put the Bison ahead 16-9.

Reliever Casey Minchey, making only his third appearance of the season, stabilized the OC bullpen by allowing only one run in 2 1/3 innings, and Chase Berberich (4-1) followed with a shutout inning, allowing the Eagles a chance to rally.

"We definitely said that Casey (coming in) was the turning point in the game," Cobble said. "He comes in, throws up a zero, gets us out of an inning and then gives up just one in the inning he did give up a run in. But that let us have a little breathing room and kind of let us get refocused and regrouped. It was a turning point because you saw the pitching staff do great after that."

Alex Garcia hit a two-run homer in the sixth and back-to-back doubles by Garrett Wages and Kevin Collyar made it 16-12. Markwardt's triple keyed a two-run seventh for OC but OBU extended its lead to 17-14 on a solo homer by Pledger in the bottom of the seventh. That proved to be the Bison's last hit.

Markwardt hit a two-run double down the left-field line in the eighth, and when he stole third base, the throw by OBU's catcher, Enriquez, sailed into left field, allowing Markwardt to scoot home to tie the game.

In the ninth, Collyar drew a one-out walk from OBU reliever Shane Kelso (4-2) and Grant Lake followed with another walk. Another OBU pitcher, Albert Monge, walked Berry Hunt to load the bases. Markwardt singled to right field to score Collyar and put the Eagles ahead, and with two outs, Empkey's line drive went over the head of right fielder Jake Gozzo for a bases-clearing triple.

OC closer Jared Price didn't allow a hit in a scoreless bottom of the ninth for OBU.

The Eagles will return to action Wednesday, hosting another local rival, Central Oklahoma, at 5 p.m.

Lonny Cobble discusses the win: https://youtu.be/xi98-efpjLk