Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Wilmore, KY – Going into the championship round, the Oakland City baseball team was 2-0 and in need of one more victory to secure a spot in the NCCAA World Series. Kentucky Christian University was the opponent in what ended up being two games on Thursday.
Game 1
The first game of the day got cut short due to a lightning and rain delay in the seventh inning. At the time Oakland City was down 2-7 and not much was going in the Mighty Oaks' favor. The bats couldn't get going, the defense struggled and on the bump there was a lack of pitch execution.
During the weather delay, it was decided that the first game was going to be conceded. Meaning that the next game was a winner-takes-it-all event.
Game 2
With a spot in the NCCAA World Series on the line, once again the Mighty Oaks got behind early. The Knights took a 0-2 lead in the third inning. The score doubled an inning later, making it an 0-4 ballgame. Once again, the Mighty Oaks struggled in the box, they needed something to get them going. This ended up being a motivational speech from
Conner Oxley, who has been on the injured list since the River States Conference tournament.
In the fifth,
Garrett Causey started off with a double, followed by a triple from
Treven Madden. Madden was able to score on a sacrifice fly from
Oliver Hamilton, putting the score at 2-4.
On inning later, a double from
Jared Kirkman got the Oaks going. With two outs in the inning,
Sam Pinckert drew a walk.
Garrett Causey connected for a single, which allowed Kirkman to score.
Treven Madden followed with an RBI single to tie the game up. This wasn't it for the Oakland City offense.
Oliver Hamilton hit an RBI single and with the bases juiced,
Noah Gilbert walked to bring in the sixth Mighty Oaks run.
Aron Busick followed with a 2-RBI double to add some insurance runs. This moved the score to 8-4.
This ended up being the final score as
Hunter Callahan and
Evan Price shut the door out of the bullpen. Callahan and Price came in to pitch after
Christian Burgrabe started and got relieved by
Tommy Johnson.
With this win, the Mighty Oaks won the NCCAA Mideast Region tournament and move on to the NCCAA World Series. This tournament will be played in Kansas City, MO and will start on May 19.
