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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Joe Mondragon
4
East Central ECU 2-5
7
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 5-2
East Central ECU
2-5
4
Final
7
Central Oklahoma UCO
5-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
East Central ECU 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 2
Central Oklahoma UCO 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 X 7 9 1

W: Croft, Colton (2-0) L: Hut Smith (0-1) S: Bonvillain, Beaux (2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Chris Brannick

Central Rallies For Win Over ECU

EDMOND – The University of Central Oklahoma baseball team beat East Central 7-4 Wednesday night in a non-conference game at Wendell Simmons Field.
 
The Bronchos rallied from a 4-0 deficit for the win to improve to 5-2 on the season.
 
"We didn't come out ready to play and we got in a hole because of that," UCO head coach John Martin said after the game. "I'm not happy with that at all, but we did battle back and that's important. It was good to see them fight in the end and it was really good to see the pitching perform the way it did tonight."
 
Central Oklahoma struck out 15 East Central batters and none of the four ECU runs on the night were earned.
 
Starter Nick Vickers went three innings and allowed three runs on two hits and three walks. He loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with no outs before Brayden Nelson took over. Nelson struck out a batter, then got a ground ball to third on what should have been out number two. But Philip Scott's throw home was errant and ECU took a 1-0 lead.
 
A second East Central runner tried to score on the play but was thrown out at home for the second out. A two-RBI single to center field to the next batter and an RBI single to center later in the inning gave ECU the 4-0 lead.
 
Nelson settled in. He went on to strike out a game-high five over three innings of work.
 
Colton Croft ended up with the win. He took over in the top of the seventh for Nelson, struck out a pair of ECU batters, and the flood gates opened in favor of the Bronchos.
 
After Brett Hopkins fouled out to third to lead off the inning, Zac Freeman drew a walk in a pinch hit at bat. Brock Schaffer followed that with a double to right field and put Freeman on third. Then Colton Bertus stepped up in a pinch-hit at bat and reached on a fielder's choice. Fortunately for the Bronchos, the throw home was errant, similar to Scott's error in the fourth, and Freeman scored.
 
Ryan Harrel flied out to right on the next at bat for the second out of the inning, but the Bronchos weren't done.
 
Joe Mondragon singled to center to score Schaffer and Bertus and make it 4-3. Then Scott singled to right field to score Mondragon, who stole third during Scott's at bat, to tie the game.
 
Garrett Takamatsu singled to right field as well, then Kyle Crowl was hit by a pitch to load the bases. And Hopkins, up again in the inning, knocked a two-RBI single to right that scored Scott and Takamatsu and gave the Bronchos a 6-4 lead.
 
Central got one more in the eighth. Bertus led off with a double to left center, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Dru Barrier, who entered the game in right field in the top half of the inning. Mondragon struck out on the next at bat, but a wild pitch gave him an open shot at first base and allowed Bertus to score with ease and make it 7-4, Bronchos.
 
Jake Terry took over for Croft and threw a clean eighth inning, striking out one batter. Beaux Bonvillain threw the ninth and struck out all three East Central batters that stepped to the plate.
 
Central Oklahoma scattered nine hits on the day. Mondragon, Scott, and Hopkins each had two. Schaffer and Bertus had the only two extra-base hits of the night, each knocking a double. UCO got its seven runs from six different players.
 
The Bronchos are off this weekend following Wednesday's midweek non-conference matchup. UCO hosts Northwestern Oklahoma next Tuesday in another midweek non-con before hosting MSU Denver next weekend in a three-game series.
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