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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Shane Nixon
11
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 24-19
7
Mo. Southern St. MSSU 30-13
Winner
Central Oklahoma UCO
24-19
11
Final
7
Mo. Southern St. MSSU
30-13
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Central Oklahoma UCO 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 1 11 15 0
Mo. Southern St. MSSU 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 7 7 0

W: Bonvillain, Beaux (2-0) L: Paschal,R (1-2) S: Patterson, Kyler (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Chris Brannick

Central Extends Season With Wild Rally In Joplin

JOPLIN, Mo. – The University of Central Oklahoma baseball team needed a big, late rally and that's exactly what the Bronchos dialed up in an 11-7 win at Missouri Southern Sunday afternoon.
 
The win eliminated the Lions of Joplin from the MIAA Baseball Championship and advanced UCO to next week's final four double elimination tournament. Missouri Southern won Game 1 Friday but Central responded with a Game 2 win Saturday and took the best-of-three series with Sunday's frantic finish.
 
"That's the kind of fight we've been looking for," UCO head baseball coach John Martin said. "I'm really proud of the guys for not giving up. When a team scores five runs in the seventh inning, a lot times it's just easy to give up. But we never gave up and we fought and we found a way. Now we get to come back next week and keep fighting."
 
Central jumped out to an early lead and led 3-1 for more than half the game, but a huge rally in the bottom of the seventh gave Southern a 7-3 lead.
 
The Bronchos didn't sweat it.
 
UCO responded to MSSU's five-run seventh with a seven-run eighth, capped off with a Shane Nixon grand slam that put the Bronchos back in front, 10-7. Central added one more in the ninth before Kyler Patterson closed out the game with a strikeout to send UCO into next week.
 
UCO scored 11 runs on 15 hits Sunday. It's the third instance that has happened this season, with one other time also coming at MSSU March 20 in Joplin.
 
Central Oklahoma jumped out to an early lead in Game 3. Joe Mondragon singled with one out in the top of the first before Kyle Crowl doubled to score Mondragon and give the Bronchos a 1-0 lead.
 
After MSSU tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom half of the first inning, UCO had an answer.
 
Kameron Kilchrist led off with a single before Zac Freeman singled himself on a bunt to the pitcher. Bennett Laurence also laid down a bunt in the next at bat to sacrifice the runners up. Then Ryan Harrel delivered an RBI single to left to score Kilchrist and give UCO a 2-1 lead.
 
Central extended its lead in the third when Garrett Takamatsu scored Crowl with an RBI single. Crowl doubled in the previous at bat for the second time in as many ABs in the game.
 
The score remained 3-1 for several innings.
 
Brayden Nelson got the start for Central Sunday and was pretty dominant through six innings of work. He allowed one hit in the bottom of the first, a solo home run, and one more in the bottom of the sixth, another solo homer. He did allow a third hit in the bottom of the seventh and then his day was done. That's when Southern rallied.
 
MSSU led off with a double off Nelson before drawing a walk off Blake Bautz. The Lions drew another walk off Colton Croft to load the bases and then struck with a grand slam off Beaux Bonvillain to go in front 6-3. A solo homer off Bonvillain also came later in the inning to make it 7-3.
 
Then it was Central's turn to rally.
 
Kilchrist led off the inning and got a free base after being hit by a pitch. He later stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch when Laurence drew a one-out walk. Harrel followed that with a single through the right side to score Kilchrist and make it 7-4.
 
Scott followed that with a single of his own to right field, loading the bases for Mondragon. After an MSSU pitching change, Mondragon singled a 2-2 pitch up the middle to score Laurence and make it 7-5. Crowl added a sacrifice fly to left that scored Harrel and made it 7-6.
 
Another pitching change from Southern before Nixon stepped up to the plate. Then, heroics.
 
Nixon, a junior infielder from Ontario, Canada, saw a 2-1 pitch he liked and drove it to left, clearing the bases with a grand slam and giving the Bronchos a 10-7 lead.
 
Zac Freeman was hit by a pitch to leadoff the ninth. He advanced to second on a sac-bunt from Laurence, third on a wild pitch, and scored the game's final run on a Harrel groundout.
 
Every batter for the Bronchos recorded a hit Sunday with the exception of Laurence, who did have two walks and two sacrifices. He also scored once.
 
Mondragon led the way, going 3-for-6 with two runs scored and one RBI. Scott was 2-for-5 with a run scored. Crowl went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs, and one run scored.
 
Takamatus was also 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Kilchrist himself also finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Freeman went 1-for-4 with a run scored and Harrel went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and one run scored.
 
Nixon actually went just 1-for-5 in the game. Nixon grounded out in the first and struck out in the third. He fouled out to first base in the fifth and then grounded out again in the seventh.
 
But in the top of the eighth, with the bases loaded, he recorded his only hit of the day – a grand slam to left.
 
Central Oklahoma, as the six-seed in the MIAA Tournament, advances to play seventh-seeded Rogers State in Joplin next week. The final four teams advancing out of the opening round best-of-three series are top-seeded Central Missouri, which will play fourth-seeded Pittsburg State, and UCO and Rogers State.
 
The four-team tournament to decide the MIAA's automatic bid to the national tournament, begins Thursday in Joplin with UCM and PSU at noon before UCO and RSU and 4 p.m. The tournament is scheduled to run May 20-22.
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