PLAINVIEW, Texas - Oklahoma Panhandle State University's baseball team saw its chance to win the series versus Wayland Baptist University get away in the late innings on Saturday in a 10-7 loss. The Aggies and Pioneers had previously split Friday's doubleheader, with OPSU losing game one 19-8 and winning the second, 10-9.
Panhandle State led the series rubber game, 7-3, after 3 ½ innings. However, the Aggie offense fell silent the rest of the way. Conversely, the Pioneers came alive. WBU scored a single run in the bottom of the fourth before posting three runs each in the seventh and eighth frames in Saturday's finale.
Senior shortstop
Markus Bracey (2-5) and second baseman
Ethan Hunt (3-4) each had a pair of doubles.
Tucker Bond also had a double, giving OPSU five two-baggers in its 13 total hits.
Zeke Dugan went 5.1 innings in the no-decision, permitting six hits and four earned runs.
Joseph Goetze absorbed the loss in relief.
In Friday's opener, it was all Pioneers as the hosts led 9-2 after two innings, 11-5 thru three and salted the game away with eight in the sixth. The two teams combined for 27 hits (17 by WBU); among them eight doubles and eight home runs.
Mekhi Edwards and
Lane Field both went deep for the Aggies.
Bracey was the pitcher of record in the loss.
In Friday's second game, OPSU led 10-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh before hanging on to get the "W".
Bracey, Hunt and Field each collected three hits in Panhandle's 13-hit attack. Edwards and
Tucker Bond had two hits apiece to account for the rest of the Aggie offense. Bracey Hunt and Bond all homered for OPSU.
Blake Tucker went 5.1 innings to earn the win, scattering nine hits and giving up five runs. Goetze, the third pitcher of the game, picked up the save after getting the final two outs.
One of the bright spots of the series was the Nos. 1-4 hitters in Head Coach
Shawn Joy's lineup. The quartet – Edwards (7-13), Bracey (8-12), Hunt (8-12) and Field (5-10) – batted a combined .595 (28-47) in the three-game set. They scored 21 runs and drove in 16. Among their hits were nine doubles and four home runs (one each).
