LAWTON, Okla. (April 3, 2022) – After quickly falling behind Cameron by five runs on Sunday afternoon, things didn't look so great for Oklahoma Christian. But then the Eagles put on a four-inning offensive display at McCord Field that will go into the program's history books.
By the time OC was finished, the Eagles had crushed the Aggies 28-10 in a game ended after seven innings due to the run rule, posting the highest-scoring baseball game in the program's NCAA Division II era and the second-highest in school history.
OC's 28 runs were the most scored this season by a LSC team and the most by any LSC team since Angelo State (Texas) had 29 vs. Division III McMurry (Texas) on Feb. 23, 2021. The Eagles' 28 RBIs were also the most this season by a LSC team.
OC's previous Division II scoring record came last season on March 26, when the Eagles rolled Eastern New Mexico 27-7. The school record was set in 1989 with a 30-2 win over Hillsdale Baptist, now known as Randall.
Perhaps most importantly, OC (14-23, 14-22 LSC) sealed the series win over Cameron (11-21, 11-19) and moved past the Aggies into ninth place in the conference standings. The top eight teams will qualify for the LSC postseason tournament and the current eighth-place squad, Arkansas-Fort Smith, is 13-19 in league play. OC still has a four-game series at UAFS looming on April 22-24.
The Eagles' offensive numbers on Sunday were, in a word, ridiculous. Two players,
Chance Westervelt and
Coleton Hinkle, each hit a grand slam and the Eagles had four home runs overall, with
Cole Lee and
Michael DiFiore also hitting dingers. Lee drove in seven runs, Hinkle six, and Westervelt and
Blake Empkey five each. OC had 19 hits as a team.
Did we mention the Eagles put up an eight-run fourth inning, a six-run fifth inning and a 13-run seventh inning? OC's baseball records are woefully incomplete – particularly in the single-game category – but surely few Eagle squads, if any, have scored that many runs in one inning. The Eagles' most recent double-digit inning was a 10-run third-inning outburst vs. Calumet St. Joseph (Ind.) on March 4, 2017.
Amazingly, OC trailed 6-1 after three innings, as starting pitcher
Isaiah Alvarenga surrendered a pair of two-run home runs in the first (to Jordan Harrison and Ryan Allen) and gave up two unearned runs in the third.
The Eagles' eight-run fourth inning came without the aid of a home run, as OC pounded out seven hits, including a two-run double down the right-field line by Lee. The Eagles led 9-6 after that outburst, but Cameron tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth off Alvarenga (4-3), the reigning South Central Region pitcher of the week. He hung on long enough to earn the pitching win (thanks to the game ending in seven innings, not the scheduled nine).
OC responded with another six runs in the fifth. Four of them scored on Westervelt's grand slam off reliever Weston Max. DiFiore followed with a solo home run, making it 15-9.
The Aggies picked up one run in the sixth, but the Eagles batted around twice in the top of the seventh, sending a whopping 18 batters to the plate. Lee opened the inning with a solo home run, Empkey hit a two-run double to left field, Lee later added a three-run double to left-center field and Hinkle capped the outburst with his grand slam, after he'd earlier had a run-scoring single in the inning.
Cameron used eight pitchers, with the second one, Devin Paz (0-1), taking the loss.
The Eagles will return home for a four-game series against the LSC's last-place team, Texas-Permian Basin, which will begin Friday at Dobson Field.
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