SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist (11-7, 4-5 GAC) defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State (13-6, 5-4 GAC) 17-4 in the first contest on Saturday before the Rangers clinched the series with a 12-8 result in the rubber game at Bobby Cox Field.
GAME ONE
The Bison were sensational on offense in the first as they dialed up three homers. That helped the green and gold attain an 8-2 lead. During that frame,
Spencer Dickinson,
Troy Shields and
Isiah Lissade hit those bombs while
Rafael Gutierrez delivered an RBI triple.
Defensively,
Nolan Feazle and company, after surrendering a two-run homer in the first, shut out Northwestern from the second through sixth frames. The senior pitcher tied his season-high with seven strikeouts and got seven fly-ball outs as well.
Third-inning action secured the blowout win as OBU scored five more. Lissade provided an RBI single that scored
Jacob Campbell before
Will Joseph went yard to left center. That was a two-run blast, and it extended the host's lead to 13-2. Plus, that homer was OBU's fifth on the day, a season-high.
Lissade finished with a 3-for-3 performance with three RBI while
Alex Schroeder added three hits. Dickinson also drove in four.
GAME TWO
The series finale turned in favor of Northwestern during the fourth inning when the Bison faltered defensively.
Prior to that, the Rangers led 3-0 and got a two-run single by Carson Wright in the second.
Trailing by a few runs, OBU returned to tie the game in the home half of the second. Four straight batters reached base and
Austin Gonzales and Lissade provided run-scoring singles to bring the tally to 3-2. Schroeder then roped a single to left plating Gonzales for the tying run.
An inning later, Campbell gave the Bison the lead with an RBI single to right field which scored Joseph.
That advantage was short-lived, though. In the fourth, OBU had two outs before a wild pitch and passed ball led to a costly inning. Dylan Bradford tied the game on that passed ball before Wright scored on an infield throwing error by OBU's second baseman. Colby Grace and Hagen Barcello then connected with two-out, run-scoring hits to boost Northwestern's lead to 7-4.
Schroeder provided a solo bomb, his fifth, in the next half-inning to bring the tally to 7-5, however, that would be the closest the Bison got the rest of the way.
Northwestern later scored four more in the sixth to secure victory.
On March 5, OBU will host Central Oklahoma (14-4) for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Earlier this season, the Bronchos defeated OBU 6-3 in Edmond.
