WOODWARD, Okla. — The Oklahoma Panhandle State Baseball team (11-22, 3-15 SAC) entered the bottom of the seventh inning in the nightcap of Tuesday's neutral-site doubleheader trailing 5-4 versus Hesston (9-23) after having dropped the opener, 10-5, but the Aggies were able to rally and salvage a split thanks to Devin Lopez' walk-off single.
 
OPSU's top two men in the order scored all six runs for the Aggies in game two – three each for Israel Gandara and Genesis Nunez – as they set the table that enabled head coach Jared Mayeda's squad to overcome an early 4-2 deficit.
 
Game 1: Hesston took a 3-0 edge three batters into the game with a three-run homer from its designated hitter, Kaleb Wise. In the second inning, two base hits, a walk and a wild pitch allowed the Larks to grab a 5-0 lead.
 
Neugyen Culmer led off the bottom of the second with an opposite-field homer that cut the deficit to 5-1, but Hesston went back to work in the fourth frame, scoring four runs to increase its lead to 9-1.
 
The Aggies showed signs of life with a lengthy two-out rally in the fifth. Nunez kickstarted a comeback with OPSU's second home run over the right-field fence, and the next six Aggies reached on one single, one error, two walks and two hit batsmen as Panhandle climbed back into the game, trailing 9-5.
 
The Larks hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth for the final run of the game, however, as they won the midweek opener.
 
Juan Perez went 3-for-4 to lead all batters in the contest. Nunez also had a multi-hit game, and Tomas Medina and Bryan Montano finished the opener on the mound tossing a combined 3.1 innings of one-run ball.
 
Game 2: A home run in the top of the first for the Larks' Samuel Vasquez again gave them an early advantage, but this time OPSU had a quick answer, striking for a pair in the first.
 
Singles by Gandara and Perez sandwiched an error that allowed Nunez to reach in that opening frame, and Julian Payan hit a sacrifice fly that gave Panhandle State its 2-1 edge.
 
Hesston added three runs on four hits in the second inning to retake a 4-2 lead, which held until the bottom of the third when the Aggies tied it up. OPSU's rally began with three straight walks drawn by Fernando Espino, Gandara and Nunez, and Payan hit his second sac fly of the game to make it 4-4.
 
Game two starter Andrew Valencia steadied the ship on the mound, completing five innings with three strikeouts and the early four runs surrendered. The game headed to the sixth still knotted, 4-4, when Hesston scored on a balk to take a 5-4 lead.
 
Eventual winning pitcher Kage Ralstin (2-3) threw a scoreless seventh frame to keep the Aggies in it, and his team soon rewarded the effort. Gandara and Nunez opened the bottom of the seventh with a single and double, Payan walked while Gandara simultaneously scored on the ball four that got to the backstop, and Lopez laced a single to right-center that plated Nunez to end it.
 
The win gave OPSU the all-time series lead against Hesston, 6-5, matching the contest's final score.
 
What's up next: Panhandle State returns to Sooner Athletic Conference action at 12 noon Friday at Carroll Gribble Field for a doubleheader versus Science & Arts (12-18, 7-11 SAC).