The Oklahoma Panhandle State University Baseball Team clashed with an NAIA opponent for the first time this season and made program history, as York College (Neb.) came to town Friday and Saturday for a couple of midday doubleheaders. The Aggies were able to take all four games from the Panthers completing the first four-game series sweep in at least two decades of recorded history. They won by scores of 6-3, 4-2, 16-9, and 8-2.
 
The first game of the series set the tone for the entire weekend for Panhandle State. Senior Blake Tucker (1-2) got the nod giving the Aggies four and two-thirds innings of work surrendering five hits and only two earned runs. The best start of the season for Tucker was enough to earn him his first win of the season.
 
The Aggie bats were on the attack early once again as they were able to manufacture a couple runs in the second, initiated by an infield single by senior Chris Schraer, who came around to score on an error by the Panther's defense. Derek Stallworth scored in much of the same style on a hard hit ball to the third basemen off the bat of Markus Bracey, giving OPSU an early 2-0 lead. This would mark the fifth game in a row that the Aggies have scored in the first two innings.
 
The Panthers clawed their way back into this one scoring three in the top of third to take the lead. However, their lead wouldn't last for long as Schraer came through with an RBI single to bring home Jose Santiago and tie the game, 3-3. Three more runs would score in the inning off of a hit by Bryson Hackley and a two-run triple by Stallworth to make it 6-3. That four-run inning proved to be the difference as junior left-handed pitcher Garrison Armstrong came on in the fifth to shut things down and earn the save finishing with two and two-thirds innings pitched, no earned runs, a strikeout, and only giving up one hit.
 
Game two was highlighted by the starting debut of senior right-handed pitcher Austin Horak (1-0). Horak gave up two runs in the first inning and then settled in nicely, finishing with five inning of work, fanning five Panthers, and giving up two runs on only five hits. "I was nervous for sure, I've never started a game in my career," Horak said when asked about his thoughts on getting the call for Friday's game. "Nerves got to me at first, but getting ahead in the count helped me settle in. After that, I just played the game like I have my entire life."
 
Offensively, the Aggies were led in this one by Schraer, once again putting together a two-hit ball game. A two-run double to left-center in third to give OPSU a 4-2 lead was the highlight at the plate in game two. That would turn out to be all the help the pitching staff needed as senior Nicholas Virdo came on in the sixth for his first save opportunity of the season and did not disappoint. He was absolutely perfect, facing the minimum number of batters in the sixth and seventh, striking out two and not allowing a single Panther to get on base. Virdo earned his first save of the year, and the Aggies would go up two game to none in the four-game series.
 
Saturday's first game came with an extra side offense, as both teams erupted at the plate in the early innings. The Panthers scored 6 runs to kick things off in the top half of the first, by far the most runs given up in the opening frame by Panhandle State this season. However, the Aggie offense was unfazed as they made sure to bring their bats to the park as well. They answered with two runs in the bottom half of the first and seven in second. A platoon squad of Aggies jumped onto this hitting wagon as they tallied 9 runs in the first two innings. Panhandle State's spirits and energy were high after Bryson Hackley belted his first career homerun well over the left-center wall, which sparked this rally.
 
Markus Bracey (1), Chris Galvan (2), and Jonathan Applebury (1) all had at least one RBI in the second, but the Aggies did not stop there. Schraer added three of his own with an absolute moonshot over the scoreboard in left field for his first career homerun to give his team a 15-7 lead over York College.
 
In a game where every batter in the Aggie starting lineup had at least one RBI or two hits, it was Virdo's pitching performance that closed the book on any sort of Panther comeback. For the second time in the series the right-hander from Ontario found himself in a save situation. Virdo came in with bases loaded in the sixth, got the Aggies out of the inning and then struck out the final two batters in the seventh to earn his second save in as many days, giving OPSU the 16-9 victory.
 
Being one of the senior leaders on the team, Schraer says, "It feels good to have everyone producing. With the talent and experience we have up and down the roster, we can do a lot of damage."
 
The series finale brought good news to Panhandle State and Head Coach Shawn Joy, as Joseph Goetze (1-1) took the mound. He missed the last series with an injury to his throwing shoulder, but you wouldn't be able to tell with the pitching performance he turned in Saturday afternoon. Goetze went through five innings of work allowing only one earned run, all while striking out 10 Panther hitters.
 
In the fourth, Applebury decided to follow in Hackley and Schraer's footsteps and belt his first collegiate home run, but this senior took a detour and headed to Denny's for the senior discount and came back with a Grand Slam to take the 7-1 lead. We saw more career firsts in the presence of freshman Corbin Yandell.  Yandell came into the game in the sixth and went the final two innings, allowing no runs and two hits to seal the series sweep with an 8-2 victory.
 
"We had a really good week of practice and the guys came out and performed well all weekend," says Joy. "They played well in all three phases of the game. They are starting to believe in themselves."
 
The Aggies' historic home-opening series seems to be a more-than-promising start to this 2020 season.