BETHANY, Okla. - The Rogers baseball program waited patiently for three years to play a game that meant something. When the opportunity finally arrived Tuesday, the Hillcats took full advantage.
 

The first athletic program to arrive on the RSU campus in 2005, Coach Ron Bradley's baseball squad was the fifth Hillcat team to get a crack at the Sooner Athletic Conference. Bradley's Cats passed their first test with flying colors as they swept a doubleheader from Southern Nazarene at the Cypert Complex in Bethany, Okla., Tuesday.
 

RSU overcame an early deficit in both contests to defeat a Crimson Storm team that was picked fourth in the NAIA Region VI pre-season poll. The Hillcats took Game 1, 6-5 and edged SNU, 5-2 in the nightcap.

GAME ONE
 

For the fourth time in five games Brandon Denton tallied a hit and scored a run in the first inning for RSU. He started the day with a double and raced home on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Littlejohn to give the Hillcats a 1-0 lead. Chris Hardin answered in the home half of the first inning with a two-run homer to put the Storm on top, 2-1. SNU doubled its lead with a run in the third on three hits off of RSU starter Shawn Epps.
 

Blake Kelley ignited a three-run fourth inning for the Cats with a leadoff double. Travis Harold chased Kelley home with a double and Randy Jones followed suit with another double. An RBI grounder by Steven Fields gave the Hillcats a 4-3 lead. RSU added to its lead in the fifth on hits by Littlejohn and Zack Hamby to make it 6-3.
 

Two Hillcat errors in the sixth opened the door for the Crimson Storm. SNU capitalized with two unearned runs, but Chris Graves came on in relief of Epps and got Brent Hardin to pop out with the bases loaded to minimize the damage. SNU put the winning run on base in the seventh before Graves struck out Jared Elmore looking on a breaking ball to end the game.
 

Epps (2-0) picked up his second win in as many outings with 5.1 innings of work while Graves earned his first save.

GAME TWO
 

The Hillcats jumped out a 2-0 lead in the first as Denton and Littlejohn walked and later scored on a double by Kelley. RSU junior starter Tyler Whitaker was touched for two runs in the bottom of the first to tie the game, 2-2. However, that would be the final scoring of the afternoon for the Crimson Storm. Whitaker (1-1) allowed only two hits after the first inning and tossed four innings to earn his first win of the season.
 

RSU regained the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth. Jones deliverd an RBI single and Kelley picked up his third RBI of the game when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Coby Wright added a tack-on run in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI single to left field. Freshman Sam Cornell was dominating in three innings of relief for the Hillcats. The Keys High School product allowed just two hits and tallied six strikeouts to record his first save.
 

Rogers State (5-1, 2-0) won its fourth straight and moved into an early three-way tie with No. 7 Lubbock Christian and No. 9 Oklahoma City for first place in the conference standings. The Hillcats return home Thursday to complete the season-series with Southern Nazarene. The Hillcats and Crimson Storm will play a single nine-inning game at the Hillcat Complex beginning at 2 p.m.