Bison, RSU Divide Doubleheader
March 29, 2008
Late rallies were the order of the day as Oklahoma Baptist and Rogers State split a pair of Sooner Athletic Conference games at Bison Field Saturday.
OBU won the opener 10-8, but dropped the second game 6-4.
In the opener, Rogers State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, using thee RBI singles by Blake Kelley, Coby Wright and Brandon Denton, as well as a passed ball.
OBU answered with three in the bottom of the first with a two-run double by Chris Chambers and an RBI ground out by Frank Avilla.
RSU added single runs in the second and third to build a 6-3 lead, but the Bison tied it at 6-6 in the fourth with a two-run double by Josh Kirkpatrick and an RBI single from Kyle Cooper.
The Hillcats went ahead 8-6 on Travis Harold's two-run home run in the fifth, but Chris Chambers came up with a two-run blast to right of his own to make it 8-8 in the bottom of the fifth.
OBU got its first lead in the bottom of the sixth when Josh Collazo lined his 13th home run of the season - a two-run shot - over the left-center field fence for the 10-8 margin.
Jordan McCavitt (4-0) pitched the three innings of scoreless relief for the win.
Chambers had three hits to lead the 11-hit OBU attack. Mason Reilly had two base hits.
In the second game, Adam Garner became the first Bison starter in the series to shut out Rogers State in the first two innings. RSU had scored seven in the first two innings of the first game and five in the first two innings of the second contest.
OBU got on the board in the first inning when Billy Thomas singled, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball before scoring on a grounder by Collazo.
Rogers State finally reached Garner in the fourth for three runs, two earned, on three hits and an error. Tyler Henderson had an RBI double and Ryan Littlejohn doubled in two. McCavitt then relieved and shut the door until the seventh.
OBU came up with a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth. With two out and runners at first and second, Cody Lambeth spanked a ground ball up the middle for an RBI single, followed by a bad-hop single to left by Whitt Barkley for a 4-3 Bison lead.
But the Hillcats solved McCavitt in the top of the seventh - the big blow being a two-run homer by Zach Hamby to put the lead back in RSU's favor, 5-4. Ryan Salsbury added a sacrifice fly for the 6-4 advantage.
The split puts OBU at 27-8 overall and 11-7 in the SAC. OBU plays Tuesday at Northwood and returns to SAC action Thursday, hosting Oklahoma Christian.