Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
EDMOND (March 30) – Tyler Bishop put the clamps on heavy hitting Angelo State and Central Oklahoma broke loose with its best offensive assault of the season in a second-game rout that gave the Bronchos a doubleheader split with the No. 17-ranked Rams here Monday.
ASU claimed a 7-4 win in the opener before UCO bust loose in the nightcap with a season-high 22 hits – 18 of them singles – to overcome an early 8-3 deficit and roll to an 18-10 triumph in a game that was stopped in the eighth inning by lightning and then called because of darkness.
Bishop had a clutch outing on the mound for the Bronchos in that contest, coming on in the fourth inning and handcuffing the potent Rams the rest of the way. The senior right-hander allowed just four hits and two runs while striking out four and walking none in going the final five innings as UCO rallied for the win.
The Bronchos, who claimed 17-7 and 18-10 wins in splitting the four-game series, are now 18-19 on the year and 14-14 in the LSC. ASU is 26-12 and 19-9.
“Tyler came through for us today,” UCO coach Wendell Simmons said. “He threw really well and shut down an awfully explosive team and our offense came alive. We came up with a lot of big hits and picked up a win we needed to have.”
The Rams had an 8-3 lead going into the bottom of the third in the second game and looked ready to take control, but UCO got back in it with a three-run volley in that frame and then surged in front with a big six-run fourth. The Bronchos added six more runs in the next four innings to pull away as Bishop kept ASU at bay.
UCO got two long balls in the three-run third, with Casey Bruns belting a two-run home run to center field and Andrew Foshee a massive solo shot to left field. The Bronchos followed that with seven hits in the sixth to take a 12-8 lead, getting a two-run double from Tyson Fugett and RBI singles from Ryan Schoonover, Luke Yost, Kellin Sheets and Foshee.
The Rams came back with two runs in the fifth to make it 12-10, but UCO got those back in its half of the inning on Brent Hodge's two-run single and continued to pull away. Schoonover had an RBI single in the sixth to up the lead to 15-10, Wade Gordy ripped a run-scoring double in the seventh as the lead grew to 17-10 and Sheets' RBI fielder's choice in the eighth made it 18-10 shortly before the game was stopped.
Five ASU pitchers tried to stem the UCO attack to no avail, with all nine starters collecting at least one hit and five – Yost, Foshee, Hodge, Gordy and Blake Mitchell – finishing with three each.
The Bronchos outhit the Rams 8-5 in the opener, but left 11 runners on base as ASU managed to pull out the sloppy win in a game that saw the two teams combined for seven errors.
The Rams led just 5-4 after Yost's two-run homer in the third, but UCO wouldn't score again and the Rams added two insurance runs in the sixth. The Bronchos stranded two runners each in the fourth, sixth and seven innings.
Kyle Head took the tough-luck pitching loss despite giving up just five hits, while Hodge and Yost had two hits apiece to pace the offense.
