SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Brek Galbreath and
Nolan Feazle were outstanding on the mound as Oklahoma Baptist defeated Ouachita 6-3 on Thursday at Arvest Ballpark in the Great American Conference Tournament. The victory was fourth-year coach
Chris Cox's 100th win.
OBU (32-20), the sixth seed, now moves on to play top-seed and No. 18-ranked (NCBWA) Southern Arkansas tomorrow at 11 a.m. The winner of that game will advance to the GAC Championship game.
The Tigers scored first on a Wyatt Core RBI single and solo bomb from Jaxon Chaney in the first and second innings, respectively. But after that, it was all Bison.
From the third to two outs in the seventh, Galbreath (9-5) utilized his slider to effect and limited Ouachita to one run. Before being relieved by Feazle, Galbreath added nine fly-ball outs and a total of seven strikeouts.
Furthermore, he earned his ninth win of the year, making him just the second Bison in the D2 era to reach that total. In 2016, OBU Hall of Famer Jinny Parra notched 12 wins on the mound.
Down 2-0, the green and gold started their comeback in the third. In that frame,
Isiah Lissade blasted a solo homer on an 0-2 count off reigning NCBWA Central Region Pitcher of the Week Cooper Timmons.
Then a frame later, OBU took the lead for good. Following a
Trey Furrey single and
Rafael Gutierrez walk, left fielder
Austin Gonzales singled to center and pushed Furrey and
Troy Shields home.
The Bison tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth frames as well.
Dan Pruitt scored on a wild pitch making it 4-2 before Gonzales delivered again. A double to the left-center wall allowed Furrey to score again and move the visitor's lead to 5-2.
Down the stretch, OBU turned to junior righty Feazle to close the deal. He did so, just like last week's game-one win at Arkansas Tech, to earn his second save. Feazle pitched 2.1 innings, gave up a single hit and fanned three while inducing four fly-ball outs.
Tomorrow's game vs. SAU will be the fourth occurrence against the Muleriders. During the regular season they beat OBU by 9-8, 9-6 and 14-12 scores.
