Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 Goodwell, Okla.—In an exciting three-game series against Adams State, the OPSU Baseball team earned their first win of the season with a walk-off win in Saturday's game three (7-6).

After putting together two great games in Friday's double-header, the Aggies came back even stronger on Saturday taking a one-run walk-off win over Adams State in nine innings. Zack Tingen got the start on the mound and went a solid seven innings allowing seven hits and two earned runs in 29 at-bats. Sophomore Scott Cutright came in for 1.1 innings with freshman Adrian Lopez earning his first win pitching the final two outs and leaving three on base for the Grizzlies.

The Aggies held the Grizzlies scoreless through six innings of play and jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the end of the fourth. Nicolas Zieniuk brought in the first Aggie run with a single to center field in the bottom of the second; Payton Osbon came through after reaching on a single and stealing second base. Zero runs scored in the second inning, but the Aggies followed up with two runs each in the third and fourth innings. Kai Long and Jordan Sprouse each hit singles for RBI in the third and Zieniuk smashed a home run in the fourth good for two RBI. The Grizzlies brought in two runs at the top of the seventh off an infield error and held the Aggies scoreless in the eighth. Adams went up 6-5 with four runs in the ninth and brought in a new pitcher with two outs in the bottom of the inning with the Aggies still down one run. With two runners on base, Long singled to shortstop bringing in Lucas Ogaz to tie the game at 6-6; Colling Smith came in to pinch hit and reached on an error by third base allowing Jason Cox to score the winning run. Ryan Richardson took the loss in game three for Adams State.

Friday's match-ups were equally exciting as the Aggies battled to the bitter end through all 16 innings. In game one Bo Ybarra brought in Nick Crosswhite to tie the game at 1-1 in the fifth inning. Adams scored three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to take a 5-1 lead. Zieniuk and Chase Graf each drove doubles in the bottom of the eighth for two Aggie runs, but neither team would score in the ninth and the Grizzlies earned the win with a final score of 5-3. Walker Rainwater took the loss for OPSU after 6.1 innings of work with five hits and three earned runs; Rainwater tossed five strikeouts during his time on the mound. Brett Nasello and Jonny Mireles pitched relief with 1.2 and 1.0 innings respectively. Jeffrey Schmitt earned his first win for Adams State in six innings and Challis Wright got a save for his work in the ninth.

Game two was action packed through all seven innings with Adams State owning an early lead and the Aggies rallying late in the game. Sam Beattie was the starting pitcher for OPSU going 4.2 innings; the Grizzlies scored five runs in that time, but Beattie sat down six batters with strikeouts. Adams took two runs in the third, one in the fourth and brought in four runs in the fifth off two doubles and a single. The Aggies were down 5-0 after 4.5 innings and looked to turn things around scoring one run to close out the fifth and five in the final two innings of play. With one out Kai long hit a home-run to left field in the sixth and was joined by Chris McClendon who homered to right field with two outs. Patrick Gonzales was on the mound for the final 2.1 innings and held the Grizzlies scoreless in the seventh giving the Aggies a chance for a comeback. Crosswhite singled with one out and two on base bringing in the first run of the seventh. Long was up with two outs and singled putting runners on first and second; Adams brought in a new pitcher with Smith at the plate and Smith went on to hit a double down the left line bringing in another Aggie run. Down two runs with two outs, McClendon singled scoring Long and pulling the Aggies up 6-7. The next batter was walked loading the bases and another pitching change was made by the Grizzlies. Dylan Sherry struck out the final Aggie batter and saved the game for Adams State (7-6). Beattie took the loss for OPSU and the Grizzlies' starting pitcher J.D. Heredia took the win.

OPSU Head Coach Jason Miner was proud of his team and said this after Saturday's win, "It was great to come back and get a win like that. We felt like we had played well on Friday, but couldn't quite get over the hump. Tingen threw a great seven innings and the guys never quit when Adams took the lead. Our guys had a great week of practice and I believe that we are getting better each week. It's a good time to start coming together like this since conference starts in two weeks."

For the weekend the Aggies totaled 37 hits, six being doubles, one triple and three homeruns. Chris McClendon led the team in batting averaging .667 for the series and Nicolas Zieniuk led the team in RBI with four. Chase Graf totaled two doubles and Payton Osbon hit a triple in game two for three RBI. Croswhite totaled 34 putouts and five assists at first base and Lucas Ogaz worked hard at second with six putouts and 13 assists. The Aggie pitching crew threw a total of 16 strikeouts.

The Aggies now hold a 1-13 overall record and will travel to their first road game of the season on March 3 to take on Northwestern Oklahoma State University for a double-header in Alva. Heartland Conference play will begin after that when the team takes on the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith for a three-game series in Goodwell March 6-7.