MONTICELLO, Ark. – After a slim, 6-5 loss in the opener, Oklahoma Baptist came back with the help of
Troy Shields,
Nolan Feazle,
William Ellis and
Jordan Brewer to take game two, 4-3, over Arkansas-Monticello on Sunday.
OBU moved its record to 15-10 and 7-7 in the Great American Conference in the process.
GAME ONE
The Bison were on fire to start the game with the help of senior
Alex Schroeder. After
Isiah Lissade and
Jayden Shafer reached, OBU's all-time leading home-run hitter found another long ball, his 52nd career bomb, to right and gave the green and gold a 3-0 advantage.
Camron Grant also got in the scoring mix with an RBI single which plated
Spencer Dickinson. After the top half of the first, Oklahoma Baptist led 4-0.
However, following that solid open, the Bison were held in check over the next five frames. In fact, OBU was retired in order in four of those as UAM chipped away at the Bison's advantage.
Will Owens' run-scoring single and Camden Tanner's bases-loaded, hit-by-pitch in the second brought the tally to 4-2. Two frames later, Brodie Romero helped the hosts tie the game at 4-4 with an RBI double.
The Boll Weevils then captured the lead in the fifth. Aidan Garrett hit a one-out, two-run homer to right center, pushing UAM ahead 6-4.
OBU threatened late though. In the seventh, Lissade smacked a solo shot, his seventh of the year. That moved the scoreboard to 6-5. Then in the eighth,
Will Joseph singled and stole second, but the hosts and reliever Kyle Roop got a pop-out to end the chance.
Ninth-inning action saw the Bison retired in order to preserve UAM's game-one win.
GAME TWO
Feazle and OBU's defense was outstanding in the second contest. He tossed 5.2 innings and got 14 fly-ball outs. Then, when UAM had two on in scoring position in the sixth, Ellis entered and ended that inning with a pop-up to Lissade at second. Brewer then closed the door in the seventh.
He struck out two and got a groundout to Campbell at short, securing OBU's victory.
Offensively, Shields had a huge afternoon. He laced a two-run double in the first, breaking the scoreless tie, before tying the game with a solo bomb in the fourth. That hit tied the contest at 3-3.
An inning later, Shafer delivered the go-ahead RBI. The junior put a grounder near first which allowed Grant to score from third.
Tomorrow, the two teams will play the rubber game at noon.
