CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State baseball team completed a four-game sweep over McPherson College (Kan.) with a pair of victories Saturday afternoon at the Hillcat Complex.
The Diamond Cats eclipsed the school record for consecutive victories with a 5-3 win in Saturday's opener. RSU then reeled off its 12th straight win with an emphatic 11-1 run-rule victory in the nightcap.
GAME ONE
After getting pounded by RSU in the first two games of the series, McPherson gave the Hillcats a run for their money before falling short, 5-3.
Grant Cosby and Justin Roark locked horns in a pitcher's duel as neither allowed a run over the first four innings. However, Roark showed signs of fatigue in the fifth and the Cats capitalized with a five-run inning. Jairo Valdez started the rally with a one-out triple and Brandt Barnes followed with an RBI single up the middle. Roark issued walks to Cade McKewon and Colton West before being lifted from the game.
Reliever Dalton Slavens walked Randy Ramirez on four pitches to plate Barnes and Cody Campbell followed with a two-run single to the left field gap. Kevin Radford drove home the final run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to shallow center.
McPherson kept the outcome in doubt with two runs in the sixth off reliever Eric Faust. Mario Mena yielded a run in the seventh before closing the door with a double-play ball and a strikeout to end the game.
Campbell collected two of the Hillcats' six hits in the contest to go along with two RBI. Cosby (2-0) earned the win with five scoreless innings of work while Roark (0-1) took the loss for McPherson. Mena earned his first career save.
GAME TWO
The RSU bats awoke from their slumber in the nightcap as the Diamond Cats exploded for 11 runs on 14 hits in an 11-1 run-rule victory.
Keith Poverud, Payden Yarmer, Colton Campbell and Lance Rymel laced four consecutive hits to start the second inning. Rymel's two-run double down the left field line made it 3-0. Yarmer added an RBI double in the third to push the margin to five and the Cats blew the game open with a four-run fourth.
Colton West belted a two-run single to right field and scored on a single up the middle by Poverud to make it 8-0. Cody Campbell ripped a walk-off single to left in the fifth, scoring Taylor Estes with the 11th and final run of the contest. Poverud went 3-for-3 while Yarmer and Cody Campbell finished with two hits apiece. West tallied a game-high three RBI.
Freshman Tyler Brown (2-0) earned the pitching victory with three innings of work. He allowed just one hit while picking up two strikeouts. Jacob Vogt (0-1) suffered the loss for the Bulldogs after giving up nine runs, seven earned, in 3.2 innings of work.
Rogers State (13-1) will take two days off before opening conference play Tuesday at Oklahoma Christian. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. from Edmond, Okla.
