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UCO Edges Hornets In Series Opener

Edgar Lopez
Box Score

EDMOND (May 3) – Edgar Lopez had a dominating outing on the mound to lead Central Oklahoma to a series-opening 4-3 victory over Emporia State Friday afternoon at Wendell Simmons Field in the first round of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-season Tournament.
 
It was the 11th win in 12 outings for the Bronchos, who improved to 29-17 in taking the lead in the best-of-three series with the Hornets.  The two teams meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday, with the “if necessary” contest set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
Lopez gave up just four hits and one walk while striking out nine in his sixth complete game outing of the season, with three of those hits coming in one inning.  The senior right-hander improved to 8-3 with the clutch performance.
 
“Edgar was flat out special today,” head coach Dax Leone said.  “He controlled both sides of the plate with his fastball and made quality pitches all day.  We didn't play our cleanest game, but you can't do better than a win.”
 
The Bronchos had 11 hits, led by Tyler Crabtree's 3-for-4 performance at the plate.  Matt Malloy and Jordan Mullin added two hits apiece.
 
UCO broke on top in the bottom of the second inning, with Malloy's lead-off single getting things started.  He went to second on a groundout and advance to third on Rose Ross' single before scoring on a Mullin base hit.
 
Cameron Mavroulis then walked to load the bases and Crabtree pushed across the second run when he was hit by pitch for the 40th time, which is just one off the NCAA Division II single-season record.
 
The Hornets pulled within 2-1 in the fifth on a solo home run that was their first hit of the contest, but UCO answered back immediately with two runs in the bottom of that frame.
 
Crabtree led off with a single and then stole second before going to third on an error.  He stayed there on Cesar Wong's bloop single to right before scoring on Matt Johnson's sacrifice fly, with Wong going home on Malloy's double two batters later to make it 4-1.
 
ESU made things interesting in the seventh, putting together three hits in scoring twice to cut the deficit to 4-3.
 
Lopez closed the door after giving up those two runs, retiring the final seven batters of the game – three by strikeout – to nail down the win.  
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