SHAWNEE -- The Oklahoma Baptist baseball team bounced back after a tough opener on Friday night to take the series against Missouri Western, 2-1, with a pair of wins in Saturday's doubleheader. The Bison opened with an eye-popping performance in game one, defeating the Griffons 25-5, before taking game two by a count of 7-6.
In the first game, the Bison put up 25 runs on 23 hits. Ramon Gomez and Hector Ruvalcaba led the team with four hits apiece. Colin Prince led the team with a pair of home runs, while Cliff Pradd, Eric Carlson, Kaimana Bartolome, Cade Kissel, and Gomez all added homers of their own.
Raul Rizo made his Bison debut on the mound, pitching five complete innings and striking out seven.
The Bison offensive onslaught began right out of the gate. Gomez doubled to right field for an RBI allowing Pledger to score. Pradd followed up the Gomez RBI and hit one way over the fence batting in Gomez and Ramon Enriquez. In the second, Gomez, Bartolome, Carlson, and Kissel put up four straight home runs to give OBU a commanding 11-1 lead.
The Bison followed up their stellar second inning with yet another multi-run inning in the third. Pradd opened the scoring by batting in Gomez. Then, with the bases loaded, Ruvalcaba hit a deep three-run double which allowed Pradd, Carlson, and Bartalome to score. Kase Warner then singled to left field to plate Ruvalcaba. Pledger then singled and advanced to second on an error which allowed Warner to score. Gomez made his second plate appearance in the inning, batting in Pledger. The Bison closed out the third with an 18-1 advantage.
After a quiet fourth inning, Prince came up to bat in the fifth and got his first of two home runs, a wto-run shot that scored Ruvalcaba.
Missouri Western's offense came alive just a bit in the top of the sixth, as the Griffons putting up four runs. The Bison, however, were not finished either, as in the bottom of the sixth Carlson hit an RBI single which allowed Enriquez to score. Prince then capped off the game hitting a grand slam which brought the Bison's overall run total to 25.
In the second game of the day, the Griffons shored up their defense and took the Bison all the way to the very end.
Missouri Western got out to an early 1-0 lead off a home run by their shortstop. OBU did answer back in the bottom of the second, as Warner hit an RBI double which allowed Ruvalcaba and Carlson to score. Gomez then followed up with a ground out passed ball which led to a Warner score. At the end of two, the Bison led 3-1.
The Griffons answered back with a two-run third inning to tie the game up at 3-3.
Bartolome got things rolling in the fifth when he doubled to left field which allowed Enriquez and Gomez to score. Carlson then immediately followed up Bartolome's RBI double with an RBI triple. Ruvalcaba then hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, allowing Carlson to put up the game-sealing seventh run.
Bison pitcher Chris Harms held off a seventh-inning Griffon rally when he got the final out on Jack Hazlett.
Up next the Bison will participate in the Henderson State Invitational. They will have a three-game slate starting with Newman on Friday, Feb. 7, with a 1:30 p.m. start time.
For complete coverage of the Bison baseball program follow the team's official Twitter account (
@OBU_Baseball).
