Box Score

Pittsburg State PSU 12-12, 7-7 MIAA

Central Oklahoma UCO 15-9, 8-6 MIAA

Pittsburg State PSU

12-12, 7-7 MIAA

Final

Mar. 23, 2019

Central Oklahoma UCO

15-9, 8-6 MIAA

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburg State PSU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Central Oklahoma UCO	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	X	3	9	0

W: Littlejim, Gabe (4-3) L: Achtermann,Alex (2-4) S: Rutland, Josh (7)

Game Recap: Baseball | 3/23/2019 5:42:00 PM | Chris Brannick

Josh Rutland Breaks UCO Record In Broncho Victory

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3/24/2019 | 1 p.m.

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Mar. 24 (Sun) / 1 p.m.

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EDMOND – Kyle Crowl and Philip Scott hit back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the first inning to give the University of Central Oklahoma all the run support it needed Saturday afternoon and the Bronchos beat Pittsburg State 3-0 in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association play at Wendell Simmons Field.

The Bronchos improved to 15-9 on the season with the win and are now 8-6 in the MIAA. Pittsburg State is 12-12 overall and 7-7 in league play. Game 3 in the series is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.

"We did a good job today of coming out and being aggressive," UCO head baseball coach John Martin said. "We do need to do a better job of staying with that for the entire game. We got comfortable with the lead and you can't do that. But we had a good day from our pitching staff again and anytime you can get a shutout in this league, that's a great thing."

TK McWhertor smacked the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the seventh inning and after the Pittsburg center fielder couldn't make a leaping catch at the wall, McWhertor landed a triple. He scored on a Crowl sacrifice fly to make it 3-0, UCO.

Gabe Littlejim earned the win Saturday for the Bronchos. The senior righty threw 6 2/3 innings, struck out six batters, and allowed just four hits in the combined shutout for UCO.

Landon Bond came on in relief of Littlejim in the top of the seventh and recorded UCO's seventh strikeout of the game to get out of the inning. He struck out one more in the eighth before Martin went to setup-man, Junior Obeso. Obeso struck out another in a quick 2/3 inning of work before handing the game off to Central closer Josh Rutland.

Rutland, who tied the career save record at UCO on Friday, would take the record all for himself Saturday.

The first batter he faced flied out to right field on one pitch. He then got another fly-out to left field on three pitches before striking out the final batter of the game to secure the win and his record 18th career save.

Rutland, who is from Shawnee, Okla., recorded 11 saves as a junior in 28 appearances. He's up to seven saves already this season in 14 appearances.

Scott led the charge for Central Oklahoma at the plate. After hitting his first home run of the season on the second pitch he saw in the first inning, he went on to go 3-for-3 on the day. He added a pair of singles. The junior infielder raised his batting average to a team-high .333 as he stretched his team lead in hits to 30. Scott has a hit in 19 of 24 games played this season.

Crowl finished 1-for-3 with the solo home run and the sacrifice-fly. McWhertor was 2-for-3. He also had a ground-rule double in what could have been has second triple of the game. Brice West would have scored on the play too but he was held at third as the ball bounced out of play. Pittsburg State got out of the jam in that second inning to keep the game 2-0. West, who singled before that, had one hit on the day. Kace Massner and Paul Kropf also added a hit each Saturday.

Game 3 of the three-game MIAA series is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. at Wendell Simmons Field. The Bronchos are aiming to sweep their second conference series of the season.

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