CLAREMORE, Okla.- The Rogers State baseball team capped opening weekend at the Diamond Sports Complex with a pair of victories over Baker (Kan.), completing the four-game sweep over the Wildcats.
It took a Wildcat error with bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to give RSU the dramatic come-from-behind, 7-6, walk-off victory in the opener. In the nightcap, Mason Marquette tossed a gem on the mound for RSU, allowing just two hits in RSU's 1-0 victory.
Game One
The Hillcats found a way to register the win in the opener with their backs against the wall.
RSU opened the game with an early lead, scoring three runs in the second with the help of two Wildcat errors. With bases loaded, Hamilton Hernandez reached on a fielder's choice, allowing Blake Gipson to score after leading off the inning with a single. The BU defense tried to turn the double play but the shortstop threw the ball away and J.P. Seifried scored while Hernandez advanced to second base. With two outs, Chase Knott reached base on an error allowing Hernandez to score the third run of the inning.
BU cut the deficit in the top of the third, scoring one run but RSU answered in the bottom of the inning with a sacrifice fly by James Marks that sent Johan Ochoa home. The Wildcats cut the deficit to 4-2 in the fourth but took the lead with a dominating fifth inning. Josh Zach started the scoring in the fifth with a two RBI single up the middle and stole home later in the inning. Cort Brennan rounded out the scoring in the frame with a RBI single to left field to give BU a 6-4 lead.
With two outs and no one on base in the bottom of the seventh, Ochoa kept RSU alive with a single down the left field line. Gipson drew a walk and Seifried was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Logan Palmer followed with a walk to bring in a run and move the tying run to third. Gipson scored on a wild pitch to tie the game and Austin Culwell reached on an error that allowed the game-winning run to score.
Four RSU pitchers saw the mound with redshirt-freshman Collin Thomas earning the win as he tossed the final two innings, allowing one hit while fanning three. Justin Bye was tagged with the loss for BU facing three batters in the bottom of the seventh, allowing one unearned run.
Ochoa and Gipson led the team at the plate with two hits apiece.
Game Two
Despite leaving seven runners stranded in the contest, the Hillcats tallied one run in the first frame and held on for the win and the four-game sweep in the nightcap.
Nick Malter tallied the game-winning RBI to centerfield that allowed Knott to score after drawing a walk earlier in the inning.
Marquette faced the minimum in six innings, allowing his first hit of the game in the fourth as Neal Boyce led off the frame with a single and moved into scoring position on a balk. However, the RSU defense quickly erased the base runner with a double play as centerfielder Alex Cochran stretched out to grab a fly ball in shallow right-center field and tossed it to second base where Boyce was tagged out.
The Wildcats didn't threaten again until the eighth as Ethan Jacks led off with a double and advanced the third on a pass ball. With the tying run on third, Brennan followed and hit a fielder's choice to Malter, at second base, who fired the ball home where Joe Crow tagged the runner out at the plate. Marquette finished the inning with a strikeout and a groundout.
Marquette, a junior from Broken Arrow, Okla., allowed two hits and one walk while striking out six in his complete-game performance. Malter was the lone Hillcat with multiple hits in the game as he went 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Rogers State (6-1) returns to action on Friday in San Antonio, Texas as the Hillcats kick-off Heartland Conference play at St. Mary's. The doubleheader is slated to start at 1 p.m.
