OKLAHOMA CITY (March 6, 2021) – It's not often when a baseball team hits four home runs and loses, but Oklahoma Christian suffered that unfortunate fate on Saturday afternoon at Dobson Field.

The Eagles scored nine runs off those homers by Blake Empkey, Chance Westervelt (twice) and Jaren Hill, but their ninth-inning rally fell just short in a 14-13 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville. The rubber game in the three-game series will be Sunday at 1 p.m.

OC (5-4, 4-4 Lone Star Conference) held the lead three times against TAMUK (5-3, 5-3) but proved unable to hang onto it. The Javelinas – ranked sixth in the South Central Region – broke an 11-11 tie in the eighth inning on a RBI double by freshman Garrett Thompson, then added two critical insurance runs in the top of the ninth.

Hill's two-run homer over the left-field fence off TAMUK reliever Aldo Buendia – who started the game at second base – in the bottom of the ninth brought the Eagles within a run and Westervelt followed with a single, but Buendia (1-0) struck out Grant Lake looking to end the game.

Westervelt, a sophomore from Moore, went 3 for 6 with his two homers – including a grand slam, the second for the Eagles this week – and scored three runs. He and Empkey fueled a three-run first inning for the Eagles with home runs over the right-field fence. For Empkey, it was his third homer of the week.

Michael DiFiore and Lake each had a run-scoring single in a three-run sixth that put OC ahead 6-4. The Javelinas scored four runs in the fifth off three OC relievers, but Hill's grand slam in the sixth gave the Eagles the lead again at 11-8. TAMUK tied the game with three runs in the seventh, one on a single by Buendia, who went 4 for 4 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored in addition to his relief-pitching duties.

Noah Bates (0-1), the fourth of six pitchers used by OC, took the loss.