Due to bad weather in Ohio, the games that were originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday, got moved back to Sunday and Monday. Oakland City was able to win the River States Conference series versus the Red Storm by winning the first and third game.
Game 1
On a cold Sunday, with snow falling down through parts of the game. The Oakland City baseball team was able to pull off a victory in the first game of the three-game River States Conference series versus Rio Grande. The Red Storm took a 0-1 lead in the second inning. Thanks to some productive offense, a
Leyton Ivers single was turned into a game-tying run. Ivers led off the inning with his basehit, stole second, got brought over to third base on a flyout by
Marcos Arocho.
Aron Busick brought him home with a groundout to the shortstop.
The Mighty Oaks added some runs in the fourth.
Noah Baugher led off with a single,
Xander Willis followed with a basehit himself.
Fred Fernandez loaded the bases with a walk.
Oliver Hamilton grounded into a double play, allowing Baugher to score. With two outs,
Artem Logvinov was clutch with a double to right-centerfield which allowed Willis to score the 3-1.
After a good offensive inning for the Mighty Oaks, a couple of Red Storm hits resulted in another tie ballgame. After four innings of play, the score was 3-3. Oakland City came with an answer right away.
Marcos Arocho led off the fifth inning with a single.
Aron Busick walked and a swinging bunt from
Sam Pinckert allowed the runners to move into scoring position. On a wild pitch, Arocho scored the fourth Oakland City run.
Noah Baugher singled to right-centerfield which brought home the 5-3.
In the top of the ninth, Oakland City would add one more.
Noah Baugher led off the inning with another single, his third hit of the day.
Xander Willis reached base on a fielder's choice and
Fred Fernandez hit a single to right field, which allowed Willis to advance to third. With runners on the corners, a wild pitch allowed for another Mighty Oaks run to be scored. This made the final score 6-3.
The Mighty Oaks used three pitchers.
Thomas King started for Oakland City; he threw 4.2 innings. King allowed six hits, three runs (earned), while walking three and striking out ten.
Owen Spears earned the win out of the bullpen. The right-hander threw 3.1 innings of shutout baseball, in which he allowed two hits, while walking three and striking out three.
Evan Price came in to wrap up the game in the ninth. The Mighty Oaks southpaw earned the save by not allowing another baserunner and striking out two of the three batters he faced.
Game 2
On a much warmer day, the Mighty Oaks looked at an early 0-2 deficit. In the bottom of the first, Rio Grande collected three hits which allowed two runs to score. Oakland City came with an answer in the second. With the bases loaded,
Leyton Ivers singled to left field to bring in the first run for the Mighty Oaks. It took until the seventh inning for the next run to score,
Sam Pinckert drove in the tying run which was scored by
JT Smallwood. Smallwood led off the inning with a walk.
An inning later, Oakland City took a lead. With runners on first and second,
Leyton Ivers collected another basehit, this one to right field. With the single, he brought in
Artem Logvinov who had reached base on a fielder's choice.
Unfortunately, the Oakland City lead did not last long. Rio Grande collected five hits and five runs in the bottom of the eighth, making it now a 3-7 ballgame, this ended up being the final score.
The Mighty Oaks saw three pitchers toe the rubber.
Gehrig Tenhumberg started and three seven hits of two-run baseball. The tall right-hander gave up three hits, while walking three and fanning twelve. His relievers were
Tommy Johnson (L, 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) and
Blake Mincey (0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO).
Game 3
After a tough loss, the Mighty Oaks started game three of the series hot in the batter's box.
Leyton Ivers reached on an error,
Noah Baugher walked, Fred Fernadez singled to left field (RBI) and
Oliver Hamilton was able to drive in two more with a single himself. An early 3-0 lead for Oakland City. After this early offensive outburst, it remained quiet for a couple of innings. In the top of the fourth,
Artem Logvinov doubled to lead of inning. He was able to move up to third base on a passed ball. This put Logvinov in position to score on a sacrifice fly from
JT Smallwood.
Rio Grande answered in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs on four hits. This made it a very close game all of the sudden.
Mick Uebelhor, who had come in the game out of the bullpen remained calm and was able to shut the door. In 2.1 innings, the freshman hurler gave up just two hits, no runs, while walking one and striking out two. Uebelhor, who earned the save, followed
Benjamen Simmons (W, 4.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO) who provided his team with a quality start.
The Mighty Oaks are now 19-7 on the year and 4-2 in River States Conference play. The boys in baby blue will be in action again shortly, as they matchup with Thomas University in Thomasville, Georgia for a doubleheader on Wednesday. During the weekend, Oakland City will host Shawnee State for a three-game River States Conference series.
