Rough Start

2/7/2014 8:11:00 PM

Ally Dziadula

UCO-Augie Box
UCO-St. Mary's Box

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Feb. 7) – Central Oklahoma's defense of its NCAA Division II national championship got off to a shaky start here Friday when the Bronchos dropped their first two games of the season in the rugged Desert Stinger Tournament at Majestic Park.

Top-ranked UCO had 14 hits, but left 12 runners on base and committed four crucial errors in falling to No. 22 Augustana 7-6 in the opener before giving up three home runs in a 7-2 loss to St. Mary's.

The Bronchos return Saturday to face No. 8 West Texas A&M at 1:30 p.m. (Oklahoma time) and Mary at 4 p.m. before finishing play in the three-day, 32-team event at 2 p.m. Sunday against Minot State.

Click here for the live stats of all UCO games along with live video webstream of the WT contest.

"We knew we had a target on our backs coming out here and that we would be playing a lot of good teams," interim head coach Cody White said. "We didn't play well enough to win today and made too many mistakes, both mental and physical. We just have to regroup and come back tomorrow ready to go."

Augie used a two-run homer in the first inning to jump out to a quick lead in the first game, though the Bronchos answered back with two runs in their initial at bat as Ally Dziadula had a run-scoring double.

Another two-run homer gave the Vikings a 4-2 third-inning lead, with Sam Cool's bases-loaded walk pushing across one run in the fourth before a pair of errors in the top of the fifth led to two unearned runs and a 6-3 Augie advantage.

UCO got a run back in its half of the fifth when Brooke Zukerman led off with a double to left field and Ashton Smith followed with an RBI single up the middle and the Bronchos scored twice in the sixth to tie it.

Dziadula led off that frame with a single and scored on Cool's double to right-center. Cool went to third on Emily Ditmore's base hit and came home on Zukerman's long sacrifice fly to left field to pull UCO even.

Augie broke the deadlock with a run in the top of the seventh and the Bronchos couldn't answer in their final at bat.

Dziadula and Kaylee Brunson had three hits apiece to lead the offense, with Smith and Devyn Frazier adding two hits each.

UCO fell behind early in the second game as well, with an error leading to two unearned runs in the second inning for the Rattlers.

The Bronchos tied it in the top of the fourth as Zukerman had an RBI double off the center field wall and Hannah Justus a run-scoring single, but St. Mary's ripped two solo homers in the bottom of that inning to regain the lead.

UCO didn't score again, despite several opportunities. The Bronchos stranded 11 runners while collecting eight hits and five walks, with Brunson's two-hit game leading the way.

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