CLAREMORE, Okla. (May 4, 2019) – Their postseason hopes in serious jeopardy, the Oklahoma Christian Eagles put together yet another late-inning rally on Saturday against Rogers State.
Berry Hunt's two-run home run keyed a five-run seventh inning and he delivered a huge two-run double in the ninth inning as the Eagles snapped a seven-game losing streak with an 8-6 win at the Diamond Sports Complex, giving them a split of a doubleheader. Rogers State won the opener 4-0.
With the split, OC (28-19, 10-10 Heartland Conference) remained alive in the race for the final spot in the Heartland baseball postseason tournament. It's a simple formula for the Eagles when they face Rogers State in the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. – win and you're in. If Rogers State (30-16, 13-7) wins, then St. Edward's (Texas) (24-25, 11-10) will snag the fourth tournament berth.
OC entered Saturday hanging on to the No. 7 spot in the NCAA's key South Central Region ranking, but desperately needing something good to happen to move back up those rankings. In the opener, Rogers State broke through against OC ace
Gabe Rodery (7-3) in the fourth inning, scoring a run on a squeeze play and another on a double by Grant Farris.
Farris hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to make it 4-0. OC proved unable to score off Rogers State starter Corey Murphy (9-4) despite coming up with nine hits.
The Hillcats led 4-0 through six innings of the second game before OC finally broke through against the Rogers State bullpen.
Kevin Collyar walked ahead of Hunt's home run in the seventh inning off Sean Robinson. After a walk and a hit batsman,
Blake Empkey delivered an infield single to score
Drew Wright. A groundout by
Errett Edwards drove in
Hunter Markwardt to tie the game and
Alex Garcia's single up the middle scored Empkey to put OC ahead.
Rogers State tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a RBI double by Blake Chiaramonte but OC went back up 6-5 in the eighth when
Callen Crockett singled home Hunt, who had hit a one-out single to right field off reliever Brock Knoten (0-2). Hunt provided some insurance with a ninth-inning double to score Garcia and Collyar, making it 8-5.
That proved important, as the Hillcats threatened in the ninth and scored a run when Griffin Keller singled through the right side of the infield and eventually came home on a wild pitch. But OC closer
Jared Price (2-2) settled down to strike out pinch-hitter Dylan Russell and retired Christian Merriweather on a ground ball to end the game.
Price pitched a season-long 2 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out two batters.
