Bison Sweep Hastings

March 15, 2008

Oklahoma Baptist continued its domination of non-conference foes with a 10-2, 9-5 sweep of Hastings Saturday afternoon.

OBU is now 15-1 this season against teams outside the Sooner Athletic Conference and 22-6 overall.

Josh Palmer (2-2) evened his pitching record in the opener, holding Hastings to two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out eight against one walk.

The Bison offense backed him with five-run innings in the second and sixth.

OBU scored five times in the second to take a 5-0 lead, using a two-run single by Frank Avilla and a two-out, three-run double by Josh Collazo.

Hastings reached Palmer for its earned run in the third inning on back-too-back doubles by Josh Tomayer and David Bates at the bottom of the order.

The Broncos added an unearned run in the fifth to creep to within 5-2.

OBU added five in the sixth with RBI singles by Collazo and Chris Chambers, a sacrifice fly by Christian Ruiz and a two-run base hit by Billy Thomas.

Collazo was 4-4 in the opener while Thomas, Cody Lambeth and Avilla had two hits each.

The Bison took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the second game on an RBI ground out by Avilla, but Hastings got three runs in the third to take a 3-1 lead.

That lead lasted until the bottom of the fourth when the Bison scored seven times. Ruiz had an RBI single, followed by a two-run base hit by Avilla. Two runs scored on an error following Lambeth's bunt single. Keith Johnson brought home a run on a ground out and Mason Reilly delivered an RBI single for an 8-3 lead.

Hastings scored twice in the fifth to make it 8-5 but OBU added a run in the bottom of that inning on an RBI single by Johnson.

Doug Hurn (4-2) went five to pick up the win, while Chase Jestice shut out the Broncos on one hit over the last two innings.

OBU had only five hits in the game as Alex Kucera (1-4) took a no-hitter into the fourth inning.

The Bison return to Sooner Athletic Conference action Thursday at Mid-America Christian.