Oakland City, IN - In their River States Conference opener, the Mighty Oaks baseball team hosted the Golden Bears of West Virginia University Tech. OCU entered the series with a record of 11-4, while WVUT brought a record of 2-12. Game one and two saw the Oaks battle back to win 4-2 in nine innings and 11-10 in 11 innings. OCU held the lead much of the third game, but were unable to come away with the sweep, falling 7-6 in the series finale that was cut an inning short due to darkness.
Gehrig Tenhumberg pitched through two outs in the seventh inning for the Oaks, allowing two runs, both earned, on five hits and two walks while striking out eight.
Tyler Roberts earned the win in relief, throwing one and a third, striking out three, while
Milan VanDerBreggen picked up his second save on the season with his final inning of work, giving up one hit while fanning two.
With the Oaks trailing 2-0 in the sixth inning,
Jenrick Rivera had a pinch hit single through the right side, driving in
Austin Morris.
Payton Hall also scored on an error on the same play, tying the game. In the eighth inning, Treven Madded doubled to deep right-center, driving in Morris before
Connor Oxley sent
Will Davis home on a single to center.
Starting game two for the Oaks on the mound,
Justin Hallum lasted three complete innings, giving up five runs, all earned, on seven hits, striking out four.
Garrett Whiteker pitched the next two innings, surrendering three runs, all earned, on two hits and a walk, while also fanning four.
Ben Simmons three two innings of work, allowing two unearned runs on one hit and three walks, striking out one. VanDerBreggen threw the final four innings of the game, allowing no hits or walks, striking out four, to earn his third win of the year.
Oakland City's first score came in the fourth inning, as
Sam Pinckert singled to left, driving in Oxley, followed by an RBI single by
Alec Pruitt, scoring
Victor Alvarez. The pair of runs cut the WVUT lead to 5-2. After the Oaks gave up three in the fifth, Alvarez high a two-run homer to center field, with Oxley on base, to bring the score to 8-4. Another two runs for WVUT in the top of the seventh was bested by OCU in the bottom half of the inning, as
Payton Hall homered to left, scoring
Chandler Dunn and Morris. Later in the inning, Oxley hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Madden. Pinckert also hit a home run to left, scoring Alvarez, to tie the game at 10-10. After neither team plated any runs in the eighth, ninth or tenth inning, OCU loaded the bases in the 11th with
Colton White stepping to the plate. A fly ball to center allowed
Tanner Singleton to score the winning run in walk off fashion, giving OCU an 11-10 win.
In the final game of the weekend,
Pete Smith took the mound for the Oaks, lasting three and two-thirds innings, allowing five unearned runs on two hits and two walks, striking out six while hitting two batters.
Weston Allen threw two complete innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on one hit and two walks, fanning three.
Joel Archer struck out one and gave up three hits in one-third of an inning.
Hall opened the scoring with an RBI triple, scoring Dunn, and scored on a single by Oxley. While singled to left, driving in Oxley, giving OCU a 3-0 lead after the opening inning. White hit a sacrifice fly in the third, scoring Alvarez, to give the Oaks a 4-0 advantage. WVUT responded in the top of the fourth by scoring five unearned runs to take a 5-4 lead, but Alvarez hit a two-run single through the right side, sending Dunn and Morris home and giving OCU a 6-5 lead. However, the Golden Bears were able to take advantage of dwindling daylight to score two runs on a single and an error in the top of the sixth, and, despite loading the bases with two outs in the bottom half of the inning, OCU was unable to score an equalizer, falling 7-6.
In the series, Alvarez batted .625 on 5-8 hitting, including a double and a home run, scoring four runs and driving in four. Oxley went 4-7 (.571) with three runs scored and three runs batted in, while Morris finished a combined 3-7 (.429) with four runs scored. Pinckert and Dunn each went 3-11 (.273) in the series, with Pinckert scoring once while driving in three, while Dunn reached home safely three times.
Overall, OCU was 27-98 (.276) at the plate against the Golden Bears, with four doubles, one triple, three home runs, 21 runs scored and 20 RBI. On the mound, OCU held a team ERA of 3.81, allowing 19 runs, 11 earned, on 22 hits, including a double and five homers, walking 10 and striking out 36, and a team batting average against of .234.
OCU will be back in action on Tuesday, March 8, when they travel to Columbia, Kentucky, to take on Lindsey Wilson College in double header action. Game one first pitch is scheduled for 11:00 am. Point Park University is scheduled for a three-game series at Pinnick Field, with one game slated for Friday, March 11, at 2:00 pm, followed by a double-header on March 12, with game one starting at 11:00 am.
