CLAREMORE, Okla. - No. 4 Lubbock Christian kept its conference record spotless, claiming both games of a doubleheader against the No. 19-ranked Rogers State baseball team on Friday at Legion Field in Claremore.
The Chaps (12-5, 5-0) recorded a 7-2 victory in the opener with a pair of home runs and a complete-game pitching performance from Tyler Rogers. The nightcap brought about free baseball as the Chaps registered an 8-7 victory in nine innings.
GAME ONE
The Chaps posted runs in the first three innings of the contest and held the Hillcats scoreless through five innings to win the opener.
Jordan Lewis led off the first with an infield double as the Cats were unable to handle a pop up over the mound. Ryan Burnaman followed with a first-pitch two-run blast over the left field fence to put the Chaps on top. Lewis gave the Chaps a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly in the second frame. Richard Bohlken led off the third and reached on an RSU error. Karl Seiter followed with a homer to give LCU a 5-0 advantage.
LCU rounded out its scoring in the sixth with a pair of runs. Cody Campbell put the Hillcats on the board in the bottom of the inning with a double down the left field line, sending two runs across home plate. However, the Cats were unable produce any additional offense and fell 7-2.
Tyler Rogers (4-0) held the Cats in check throughout the game while keeping his pitching record perfect. He scattered six hits across seven innings with eight strikeouts, two runs and just one walk. Eric Faust (4-1) suffered the loss for RSU after giving up five runs, four earned, on six hits with five strikeouts in three innings of work.
GAME TWO
The Chaps took an early 2-0 lead after the third with costly errors in back-to-back innings.
The Hillcats dented the scoreboard and took the lead with four runs in the fifth. Keith Poverud hit a RBI doubled in the right-center field gap to spark the scoring. Eric Baker followed with a single up the middle to plate a pair of runs. Baker advanced to third on a single by Hector Rivera and scored the final run of the inning with a wild pitch by Kyle Forsyth.
Intelligent base running by Lance Rymel put him on third base after Bohlken dropped the fly ball he hit to deep left field. Cade McKewon followed with a squeeze bunt to score courtesy runner Jeff Fyfe in the sixth.
The Chaps erased RSU's lead in the top of the seventh, plating five runs on four hits. However, the Hillcats answered in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs to knot the score 7-7.
The Hillcats left runner stranded on second and third in the bottom of the eighth and the Chaps capitalized in the ninth. With two outs and bases loaded the Hillcats thought they had secured the third out as Brent Leslie flew out to left field however, the field umpire called a balk on reliever Zack Williams and a run scored. Williams eventually struck out Leslie but the Chaps still earned the 8-7 advantage.
In the bottom of the frame, the Hillcats put the tying runs in scoring position as runners were on first and second with one out. However, Fyfe was caught stealing at second base and Randy Ramirez struck out looking to end the game.
Each team used four pitchers in the contest. Jose Gonzalez (2-0) registered the win for the Chaps, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings with one strikeout and two walks. Drew Taylor (0-2) suffered the loss after pitching one third of an inning and allowed two hits and one run.
Rogers State (18-3, 5-2) will took to avoid the series sweep on Saturday as the Cats host the Chaps at Hillcat Complex at 1 p.m. Live audio will be provided at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.
