EDMOND, Okla. — Oklahoma Baptist continued its unbeaten start on Thursday afternoon, rolling past New Mexico Highlands 9–3 at Gerry Pinkston Stadium to improve to 7–0 on the season. It's only the third time in school history that a Bison team has started 7-0, with the previous occurrences in 1997 and 2013.
The Bison wasted little time getting on the board.
Kaley Cook opened the game with a double down the right-field line and came home moments later on an RBI double from
Greenlee Wells, giving OBU a 1–0 lead after the first.
After a scoreless stretch through the middle innings, Oklahoma Baptist added to its advantage in the fourth.
Nichelle Marshall singled and
Payton Bragg entered as a pinch runner before stealing second.
Keirstin Briggs followed with an RBI single through the right side to push the lead to 2–0.
New Mexico Highlands answered in the bottom half with an RBI groundout to trim the margin to one, but the Bison quickly regained momentum in the fifth. Cook reached and stole second before Wells singled and later scored on an RBI base hit from
Ally Ryan.
Ivy Walker, running for Ryan, advanced aggressively and scored on an RBI double by
Abby Laskowski, extending the lead to 5–1.
OBU put the game out of reach in the sixth, erupting for four runs.
Jessi Hull worked a walk and scored on Cook's two-run inside the park home run down the right-field line. Later in the inning, Walker drove in a run on a groundout, and Bragg capped the scoring with an RBI single to make it 9–1.
In the circle,
Jaycee Kelln earned the win, allowing just one run on three hits over five innings of work.
Naomi Redman finished the game in relief, striking out two over the final two frames.
Cook led the offense with a 2-for-3 performance, three runs scored, two RBI, and a home run, while Wells went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, a walk, and a stolen base. Reyes added two hits and a sacrifice, and the Bison finished with 13 hits, scoring in four different innings.
Oklahoma Baptist will look to continue its strong start to the weekend tomorrow at 1:15 pm vs. Black Hills State University (S.D.) and then later at 3 pm vs. Oklahoma Christian University. These games will be played at Oklahoma Christian University.
