Bison Sweep SNU on Senior Day

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist took a pair of games from Southern Nazarene to send the Bison seniors into the postseason with a rivalry sweep Saturday, 7-3 and 7-5.
 
Honored before the games were Bison seniors Brett Berghammer, Zach Fowler, Juan Gonzalez, Zane Gelphman, Nick Burnham, Matt Poulin, Josh Timms and Mychal Yarbor.
 
SNU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but OBU evened the score in the second when Brock Carter put down an RBI bunt single.
 
Down 2-1, the Bison tied the game in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Berghammer.
 
OBU scored three in the seventh after the first two batters were out. Jake Gozzo homered to left for a 3-2 lead and after a PJ Harris double, Poulin homered to center for a 5-2 edge.
 
SNU got within 5-3 in the top of the eighth, but the Bison scored twice in the home half on a sacrifice fly by Timms and a home run by Gonzalez.
 
Mychal Yarbor went six strong innings for the Bison on the mound and Albertus Barber, making his return from injury, finished up for the win.
 
Yarbor struck out seven and Barber six.
 
The Bison had nine hits, including two each by Berghammer and Gozzo.
 
OBU was again down 1-0 after the top of the first in the second game, but Gelphman doubled in two runs for a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning.
 
Gelphman added an RBI single in the third and OBU took a 5-1 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Brett Bloomfield and an RBI single by Garrett McKee.
 
SNU tied the game with three in the fifth and one in the sixth to rob Fowler of a pitching win, but Andrew Eppenbach pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Fowler logged five strikeouts for the game.
 
OBU took the final margin in the sixth when Timm lifted a towering two-run home run over the left field fence.
 
The Bison had 11 hits in the game, led by Gelphman with four and Berghammer with two.
 
OBU finished in a tie for second place in the Great American Conference, based on winning percentage, with Southern Arkansas but the Muleriders took the series and OBU will most likely be announced as the No. 3 seed in next week's GAC Tournament.
 
Times and opponents will be announced later. The tournament will be at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, May 5-8.