SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist didn't need any St. Patrick's Day luck Friday in a 10-0 series-opening win over Harding – just a change of attitude on the mound.
Jinny Parra (4-2) got his first win in three starts and
Blake Whitehead worked out of a jam to get an eight-inning combined shutout. OBU pitchers now have a 20-inning shutout streak.
Parra scattered seven hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts without a walk. Whitehead allowed a hit and two walks to fill the bases with one out, but fanned the next two batters.
"After getting off to a little bit of a slow start, I think we just had to go back and re-assess some things," said Bison pitching coach
Cody Painter. "The guys had done a good job of preparing, but it was a matter of how they handled tough situations and getting out of jams. Obviously with the scoreless inning streak we have now, I think we've made those adjustments and it has paid off."
OBU's offense made it a little easier by getting a five-run first inning.
Josh Timms got a two-out, two-run single, followed by a two-run double by
Joseph Moran.
Bob English tacked on an RBI single for the 5-0 lead.
Hunter Heath came up with an RBI double in the second for a 6-0 lead.
Zane Gelphman added an RBI ground out in the fourth and
Juan Gonzalez mashed a solo home run to lead off the fifth for an 8-0 lead.
A sacrifice fly by Moran in the seventh and another by Timms in the eighth gave OBU the run-rule win.
OBU got 14 hits in the game, including three by
Brett Berghammer, who had two hits on two pitches in his first two at bats.
Kevin Olmeda, Heath and Timms had two hits each.
The Bison (13-9 overall and 7-6 in the Great American Conference) meet Harding for the final two games of their series Saturday with a 1 p.m. start from Bison Field at Ford Park.
