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Box Score 3 Claremore, Okla.—The OPSU Baseball team fell in a three-game sweep to Rogers State over the weekend ending the 2016 season with an overall record of 5-44.
The Hillcats closed out their season with a 28-22 record and earned three final wins at home by scores of 4-0, 6-1 and 8-0. In Friday's game one of the Heartland Conference matchup,
Samuel Beattie started on the mound for OPSU; Beattie threw five strikeouts and gave up seven hits for four earned runs over 27 batters faced. The Aggies totaled two hits in the game, a single by
Joseph Cerda in the fourth inning and another single by
B.J. Henry in the seventh. RSU scored three runs in the third inning on a single and a two-run homer, and brought through their final run in the fourth off an RBI single.
Saturday started off with the Aggies on top 1-0 through three and a half innings of play. Henry knocked an RBI single down the right side with a runner on second to open the first inning. A double by the Hillcats in the bottom of the fourth evened the score at 1-1, and the Aggies' starting pitcher,
Adrian Lopez, was relieved from duty in the fifth after putting two runners on base with zero outs. Freshman
Dallas Guerrero took over on the mound for OPSU and gave up a bunt single on his first batter to load the bases. The Hillcats scored five runs in the fifth inning and held the Aggies scoreless through the remainder of the game. OPSU gathered six hits in game two, all singles; senior
Jacob Milburn went two for two at the plate with two singles, along with one sac-bunt and one walk. Lopez took the loss for the Aggies, but four pitchers saw time on the bump including
Zane Grigsby and
Scott Cutright who each gave up one hit for zero runs.
Rogers State put up two runs in the first inning of game three on a double and a two-run homer. OPSU's
Tristan Hubler was the starting pitcher and Hubler took the shutout loss in 2.1 innings with six hits and five earned runs. The Hillcats hit a lead-off homerun in the second to pull ahead 3-0 and then took two hits for two runs in the third before adding two more to board in the fourth on RBI singles. Senior
Sidgwick Hunter had the Aggies' only double of the series in the top of the third, but was left on base by the following three batters. Rogers scored their eighth run in the bottom of the sixth inning off a fielding error by the Aggies.
Logan Litton,
Joel Perez and
Felipe Beltran each took time on the mound for OPSU.
The Hillcats took the Aggie pitching crew for a combined 30 hits in the series and totaled four doubles and three homeruns over the weekend. OPSU had 13 hits with one double and added committed five errors for the series. The Aggies finished the season with one victory within the Heartland Conference and ranked tenth as a team;
Samuel Beattie completed his junior season as the third-ranked pitcher in the league for batters struck out with a total of 79. Also listed in the conference ranks is senior outfielder
Payton Osbon who sits in a three-way tie for second in sacrifice bunts with seven on the season; teammate
Juan Rubayo holds a three-way tie for third in the same category with six sac-bunts.
With another year in the books and a full season of playing experience under their belts, the Aggies begin preparations for next year and look ahead with optimism and enthusiasm for what's to come.
