Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 Goodwell, Okla.—The Aggies dropped four games this weekend in a round robin tournament Saturday and Sunday that included match-ups with Colorado School of Mines and Newman University.

A great crowd showed up to support OPSU Baseball and wonderful weather prevailed as the Aggies set out to take on two tough opponents. Mines opened their season ranked fourth in the RMAC while Newman was ranked fifth in Heartland Conference pre-season polls.

Saturday saw three games starting with a home-team match-up against the Orediggers of CSM. Mines took a three-run lead at the top of the third and would score three more runs through the seventh inning. The Aggies drove in two in the fifth and opened the sixth with a homer to left field a'la Kai Long. Looking to make a comeback in the bottom of the eighth, Nick Crosswhite brought in one RBI to make the score 4-6, Orediggers in the lead. With two outs in the ninth, Mines scored three runs to clinch a 9-4 victory. Walker Rainwater took his second loss on the mound pitching five innings for the Aggies.

Colorado School of Mines notched another win in Saturday's game two, beating Newman 4-3. The Jets were then up against the Aggies for the final game of the day, and earned their first win of the season by seven runs (9-2). Newman scored three runs each in innings one, three and five to take a fast nine-run lead. The Aggies' two runs came when Crosswhite drove a double in the fifth inning to bring Bo Ybarra in for the RBI and Long scored the final run in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman Dallas Guerrero pitched 3.1 innings taking the loss for the Aggies with eight hits and six earned runs.

The Aggies played in both games on Sunday and started off with another tough game against the Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers put the Aggie pitchers to the test scoring 12 runs in five innings of play. Nick Crosswhite scored the first run for OPSU in the bottom of the sixth off a single by Rolando Jacquez. The Aggies faced a tough time in the seventh as Mines brought in four more runs to cap the 16-1 victory, and ended the game early after sitting all three Aggie batters down to close the inning. Sophomore Sam Beattie took the loss on the mound after two innings of work; Brett Nasello pitched the next four innings serving five strikes, and Mike Mendoza finished up in the seventh.

Patrick Gonzales got the start on the mound for OPSU in Sunday's game two against Newman as the Aggies battled through a competitive nine innings to round out the weekend. The Jets went to work early at the plate with a homer to right field from their lead-off hitter; a double later that inning drove in the second RBI giving Newman a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the second, Aggie centerfielder Chris McClendon hit a big single up the middle and scored two RBI with runners on second and third, tying the game after two innings.  A homerun by Crosswhite in the fourth gave the Aggies a one-run lead, but it didn't last long as the Jets brought in three runs in the fifth inning. The score stayed at 5-3 through the remaining four innings with Newman taking their second win of the season. Both games against Newman were non-conference losses for OPSU.

For the weekend the Aggies totaled 24 hits including two doubles and two home runs. The pitching crew tossed 25 strikeouts with Brett Nasello throwing out six in his five innings of relief work. Nick Crosswhite led the Aggie bats with four hits off one single, two doubles and one homer; his slugging percentage was .750 over four games. McClendon led the team in RBI with four, while Crosswhite brought in three for the tournament. Early in the season the Aggies own seven losses and look ahead as plenty of baseball is yet to be played.

Aggie fans can look forward to more home-field action this weekend when OPSU hosts two double-headers against Truman University Feb. 14-15. Saturday will be Ladies Day at the Ballpark with each lady in attendance receiving a special gift for Valentine's Day, a red rose from My Rene's House of Flowers. Games begin at Noon each day.