Bison Finish Off Harding

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist took two games Saturday, 6-0 and 12-3, to complete a series sweep of Harding.
 
For the series, OBU outscored Harding 28-3.
 
"This was the first weekend I think we put all phases of the game together," said Bison Head Coach Bobby Cox. "Everything kind of came together for us on the mound and we put some crooked numbers up on the board."
 
OBU extended its scoreless innings streak to 29 before Harding scored a run in the final game.
 
"That's a tribute to our depth. We were looking at our stats beforehand and in all of our series', we have not used the same three starting pitchers," Cox said. "Most of the conference staffs are going six pitchers with consistent innings and we're pitching eight or nine guys on a consistent basis. I think that will help us later down the line."
 
OBU also hit the ball well, led by Brett Berghammer, who finished the series with seven hits in 11 at bats.
 
"(Berghammer) has had a good year, but this week he's seeing the ball extremely well," said Cox. "There's nobody you want to see coming up more than him. I think it was his last at bat; he's up and gets a border line call and gets to 0-2 and battles back and gets a hit up the middle. That's what we've been preaching to these guys. A bad call or a bad swing doesn't waste the at bat. You continue with the at bat and grind it out and we saw some of that this weekend and that's encouraging."
 
Carson McPherson and Nick Burnham combined on a six-hit shutout in Saturday's opener. McPherson struck out eight in seven innings and Burnham fanned two in two innings. It was the third consecutive Bison shutout.
 
The Bison scored the only run support needed in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Heath.
 
OBU got on the scoreboard again in the sixth when Heath smoked a two-run home run to right.
 
Three more Bison runs crossed the plate in the seventh on a squeeze bunt by Dustyn Cook and RBI singles by Berghammer and Zane Gelphman.
 
OBU collected seven hits, including three by Berghammer and two by Heath.
 
Harding stopped OBU's scoreless inning streak in the second game with a run in the top of the first, but that was all they got off starter Tyler Gibson.
 
The Bison scored four in the bottom of the first on a three-run double by Juan Gonzalez, who then scored on a double by Heath.
 
OBU put eight runs on the board in the fourth inning. Nick Burnham had a two-run home run, Kevin Olmeda singled in two runs, Gonzalez had a sacrifice fly, Josh Timms added a two-run triple and Joseph Moran tacked on an RBI single.
 
The Bison posted 15 hits in the game, including three each by Heath and Moran and two apiece by Timms and Cook.
 
Gibson went five innings and collected five strikeouts for his first win.
 
Now 15-9 overall and 9-6 in the GAC, the Bison host Arkansas-Fort Smith before starting a seven-game road swing next weekend.