PITTSBURG, Kan. – Twenty-nine hits and twenty-nine runs. Those were the combined offensive numbers for Oklahoma Baptist and Pittsburg State on Tuesday. By the end of the nine innings, OBU found itself in front, 15-14.
Walker Keller had two homers on the day, including the go-ahead smack in the top of the ninth.
Dan Pruitt and
Kade Self also had home runs. Additionally,
Trey Furrey and
Alex Schroeder each contributed multiple hits.
Before the Bison had to rally late, the green and gold raced out to a 10-5 lead by the top of the fifth.
With the score tied at 4 in the top of the fourth, Pruitt hit a bases-clearing single to center field scoring Keller,
Isiah Lissade and Furrey. OBU then pushed its lead to 8-4 on a Schroeder RBI single.
After the Gorillas got a run back in their inning, the Bison scored twice more in the fifth.
Jose Parga's infield grounder to third resulted in an error and allowed Furrey to round home. In the next at-bat, Lissade tripled to center field pushing Parga home.
Following two Pitt State runs in the fifth, the Bison got two more in the sixth. Those came on a two-out, two-run homer from Self which also scored
Ramon Gomez.
Now down 12-7, PSU erupted for seven runs in the seventh. Caleb Carr's two-run single brought the tally to 12-10 before back-to-back, bases-loaded walks were issued to Kaden Fowler and Garrett McGowan. The hosts then took the lead, 13-12, as Mason Hartman scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Gorillas' final run came courtesy of Cruz Aranda who connected on a sacrifice fly.
Despite relinquishing the lead, the Bison bats stayed hot. In the eighth, Gomez singled through the left side scoring Pruitt.
An inning later, Furrey started things with a leadoff double. Two sequences later, he scored on an RBI groundout from Lissade. That tied the game at 14. The drama was then capped off in the very next at-bat. Keller took a two-out pitch to right center, pushing the Bison back in front, 15-14.
Devin Crawford then closed the game out in the bottom of the ninth. After a hit-by-pitch to start, Crawford retired the next three batters on a grounder, fly ball and foul out.
Next on the schedule for OBU is the GAC series opener at Henderson State starting on Feb. 18.
