Boxscore
EDMOND (April 27) – Central Oklahoma jumped out to an early lead, but the bullpen could not hold it as Central Missouri rallied to claim a 10-7 victory in the regular season finale Sunday afternoon at Wendell Simmons Field.
The No. 17-ranked Mules won the final three games of the four-game series to finish 35-14 in winning the regular season Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association title at 32-8. The Bronchos fell to 34-14 and tied for second in the league standings at 26-14.
"Baseball is a game of mentality, fundamentals and execution," head coach Dax Leone said. "We got destroyed in all three and that is really disappointing for a number of reasons. This team has a chance to be special, but now we have backed ourselves into a corner and have to come out on top this weekend to keep playing."
UCO is the third seed and will host sixth-seeded Nebraska-Kearney in the first round of the MIAA Post-season Tournament this week, with that best-of-three series starting Thursday.
The difference in the game came down to two relief pitchers, UCO's oft-used Phillip Wilson and UCM's little-used Zak Anstine. Wilson entered with a 3-1 record and a 0.96 ERA in 28 innings pitched, while Anstine was 0-1 with a 5.62 ERA in eight innings pitched.
Wilson allowed five runs on five innings in two innings of work, while Anstine struck out 11 and allowed just hits over 5 2/3 innings of relief work to give Cental Missouri an opportunity to overcome a 6-2 deficit.
The Bronchos jumped on the first two UCM starters and led 6-2 after three innings. Matt Johnson and Jake O'Brien hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning and Dylan Raper belted his fourth homer in five games to help build the lead.
The Mules then turned to Anstine in the third inning and the Bronchos could not figure out his sidearm delivery as he silenced the UCO bats during his long stint on the mound.
UCO starter Landon Hallam was solid, allowing just three runs on five hits in five innings of work, but he was removed after he gave up a leadoff double in the sixth inning. Wilson came on after Joe Hollowell walked a batter and gave up a hit with the Bronchos leading 6-3 and the tying run at the plate. Wilson gave up a pair of run-scoring singles and a two-run double to Tony Sandifer that gave the Mules a 7-6 lead.
UCM added three more runs off of Wilson in the eighth to extend their advantage to 10-6.
The Bronchos did get a run back off of Grant Gavin in the ninth, but ace reliever Zach Davis came on and recorded the final three outs to earn his league-leading 12th save.
UCO goes to Oklahoma City to take on Oklahoma Christian at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before hosting UNK for the first round of the league tourney.
