Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 During Spring Break at Oakland City University, the Mighty Oaks baseball team travelled to Georgia to find some warmer weather. On Wednesday, the team faced the Night Hawks of Thomas University, a quality team that received votes in the 2023-24 NAIA Baseball Coaches' rankings.
Game 1
The warm weather heated up the Mighty Oaks bats,
Leyton Ivers and
Noah Baugher collected hard-hit singles in the first, not resulting in a run. An inning later,
Oliver Hamilton led-off the inning with a homerun to left field to open up the score. After
Xander Willis walked,
Artem Logvinov was able to drive him in with a double.
The offense kept going, as three more runs were added in the third inning.
Noah Baugher got on with a single,
Fred Fernandez did the same thing. With two runners on,
Oliver Hamilton connected for another extra-basehit, an RBI double this time.
Xander Willis drove in two with a single up the middle, making it a 5-0 ballgame. Hits from
Marcos Arocho,
Leyton Ivers and
Noah Baugher resulted in another run in the fourth inning.
The bottom of the fourth inning was quite neat from a defensive point for Oakland City. The first out was made by
Garrett Causey who perfectly timed a jumping catch at the wall, robbing potentially a homerun or at least extra bases. The next out was recorded by
Noah Baugher who had to lay out and make a sliding catch on the warning track in deep right-centerfield. Baugher made sure to assist with the third out as well, throwing out the potential first Night Hawks run at home with a beautiful throw.
After four innings of shutout baseball, the Mighty Oaks had to surrender their first run in the fifth. The Night Hawks managed to score one more run in the sixth, but Oakland City held on to the lead and secured the victory in Georgia. The final score was 6-2.
Cole Lambird earned the victory on the bump for Oakland City, he pitched four innings, giving up six hits, one run (earned) while walking and striking out none.
Kendric Sorgius finished the game with three innings of one-run baseball. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one.
Game 2
After a great offensive game in game one, hits were harder to come by in the second game of the doubleheader.
Mason Simon singled in the third and was able to advance to second, but did not get any farther than that. In the fifth,
Kaden Hurless got on with a base knock and found his was to third base on a wild pitch and steal. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to score, despite their only being one out.
The Night Hawks scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, after a double, a walk and a 3-run homerun. This was the only offensive they would create all night. In the sixth, Oakland City answered with a run.
Pete Britton singled to lead off the inning. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball.
Noah Baugher got on with a hit by pitch, he stole second before
Kendric Sorgius got walked. The walk also resulted in a wild pitch, which allowed Britton to score and Baugher to move to third. A strikeout and a flyout put an end to the inning, resulting in a 1-3 Mighty Oaks loss.
Five arms were used on the mound for Oakland City.
Kiefer Parsons (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO) started, his relievers were
Drew Fifer (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO),
Blake Mincey (L, 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO),
Weston Allen (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) and
Milan van der Breggen (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO).
The Mighty Oaks will be back at home on Saturday for a River States Conference doubleheader with Shawnee State. The series will be wrapped up on Sunday at Konkler Field.
