OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Despite outhitting the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma City Stars, the Rogers State baseball team was unable to top the Sooner Athletic Conference leading Stars as the Hillcats fell 5-3 Thursday at Jim Wade Stadium.
RSU registered 10 hits but tallied just three runs in the nine inning affair as all the Cats runs came in the opening two innings. The Diamond Cats left eight runners on base for the game.
Eric Baker led off the game with a single up the middle and scored two batters later on a single to rightfield by Colton Campbell. The next at-bat Lance Rymel's sacrifice fly to rightfield scored Hector Rivera and gave the Diamond Cats a 2-0 lead after the top of the first.
RSU added another run in the visitor's half of the second as a Baker triple scored Keith Poverud and gave coach Ron Bradley's squad the 3-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the third the Stars posted their first run on a solo shot to rightfield by Chris Munoz to trim the RSU advantage to 3-1 heading into the fourth.
OCU tied the contest in the home half of the fifth on a two RBI single to leftfield by Dane Phillips.
The Stars took the lead in the seventh inning on a sac-fly by Phillips scoring Munoz and putting OCU in the lead 4-3. The host Stars tallied an insurance run on a wild pitch by Zack Williams scoring Cody Ferrell. RSU went three-up, three-down in the top of the ninth as OCU came away with the 5-3 victory.
The top two in the order for the Hillcats, Eric Bakers and Hector Rivera, went a combined 4-for-10 with two runs scored and one RBI. As the bottom two in the order, Keith Poverud and Brandon Bargas, combined to go 4-for-8 with one run scored.
Shawn Spainhoward was the starter for RSU pitching six innings in the no-decision giving up three earned runs on seven hits as he fanned 10 batters. Eric Faust (6-2) received the loss as the senior pitched one and two-thirds innings giving up two runs, one earned, on one hit.
Davis Henderson (5-0) recorded the win for the Stars as he pitched a perfect one and one-third innings as he struck out one. Patrick Goelz earned his fourth save throwing one complete inning in relief and fanning one batter.
Rogers State (31-10, 13-9) returns home to the Hillcat Complex to face the Oklahoma City Stars Saturday, April 7 at 2 p.m. Live audio streaming will be provided at www.rsuhillcats.com.
