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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

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Xavier Freeman
Xavier Freeman
6
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 33-18
4
Nebraska-Kearney UNKBASE 28-24
Winner
Central Oklahoma UCO
33-18
6
Final
4
Nebraska-Kearney UNKBASE
28-24
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Central Oklahoma UCO 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 6 11 1
Nebraska-Kearney UNKBASE 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 1

W: Wusterbarth, Ben (1-2) L: Sandoz,Eric (1-3) S: Rutland, Josh (8)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Freeman Fuels UCO Comeback

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (May 11) – Xavier Freeman homered and drove in three runs to spark a late-inning Central Oklahoma comeback that kept the Bronchos alive in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Postseason Tournament at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field here Friday.
 
Top-seeded UCO outscored Nebraska-Kearney 5-0 over the final three innings to overcome a 4-1 deficit and pull out a 6-4 victory, with Freeman's solo homer and two-run single accounting for most of that damage.
 
The regular season co-champion Bronchos relied heavily on their depth in the must-win contest, using 21 players.  Six of those were pitchers as UCO's arms kept a high-powered Loper offense that ranked second in the country in homers (93) and seventh in batting average (.338) under control.
 
"That was a gutsy win by our bunch," head coach John Martin said.  "We were kind of scuffling along offensively until the seventh when Xavier got us going and we made some things happen after that.
 
"Guys were ready to play when their number was called and that's what you want to see.  And hats off to our pitching staff for the job they did against one of the best hitting teams in the nation."
 
Central improved to 34-18 with the win and will take on Northeastern State in another elimination game at 4 p.m. Saturday.  The Bronchos must win four more games to claim the tournament title.
 
But UCO is still playing and the prospects of that appeared dim when the Bronchos went to the top of the seventh trailing 4-1 and with just three hits to their credit.
 
Then Freeman stepped up the plate.  The senior outfielder smoked a high fly ball over the left field fence for his 12th homer of the season and Kyle Miskovsky added an RBI single later in the inning, thanks to aggressive base running by pinch-runner Caleb Peters.
 
That cut UNK's lead to 4-3 and the Bronchos took the lead in the eighth, with Freeman again the catalyst.
 
Trae Smith opened the eighth with a single up the middle, then pinch-runner Brock Ruminer stole second and third.  Taylor Avila was hit by pitch and swiped second to set the stage for Freeman, whose line-drive single to left plated both runners to put UCO up 5-4.
 
The Bronchos added an insurance score in the ninth.  Miskovsky led off with a bunt single, stole second and went to third on an error on the play before speeding home on Paul Kropf's sacrifice fly.
 
UNK put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but Xavier Warren made two splendid plays in center field and relief ace Josh Rutland struck out UNK's top home run threat for the final out to preserve the win.
 
Freeman, Miskovsky and Smith had two hits apiece to lead UCO's 11-hit attack.  Ben Wusterbarth threw two no-hit innings to earn the pitching victory, while Rutland went the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up his eighth save of the season.
 
UCO took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a two-out rally.  Kropf's bloop hit toward the right field line fell in and bounced past the right fielder for a triple, setting the stage for Smith's run-scoring single up the middle.
 
The Lopers answered back with a run of their own in their initial at bat to tie it and it stayed that way until the fourth when UNK scored three runs on three walks, two hits and a key error led to grab a 4-1 lead.
 
Wusterbarth came on as UCO's fifth pitcher with the bases loaded in the sixth to get an inning-ending force out to keep the game close and Freeman ignited the rally in the seventh.
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