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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Philip Scott
6
Rogers State RSU 20-21
19
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 25-19
Rogers State RSU
20-21
6
Final
19
Central Oklahoma UCO
25-19
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Rogers State RSU 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 6 8 5
Central Oklahoma UCO 6 6 1 1 0 5 X 19 15 0

W: Anderson, Luke (6-5) L: B. Karalius (5-6)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Chris Brannick

Central Advances In MIAA Tournament

JOPLIN, Mo. – The University of Central Oklahoma baseball team scored early and often en route to a 19-6 run-rule blowout of Rogers State Thursday afternoon in the MIAA Tournament.

The Bronchos, now 25-19 on the season, advanced into the winner's bracket final Friday at 11 a.m. against Central Missouri. 

"We played really well today," UCO head baseball coach John Martin said. "They did a good job of coming out and getting after us in the first but we responded and that gave our guys some confidence. And we just played well. We hit the ball well. We'll need to play really well tomorrow and keep it up."

UCO actually earned a come-from-behind win Thursday, though that deficit was only in the bottom of the first inning. 

Rogers State scored two runs in the top of the first inning. A pair of singles was followed by a pair of walks and a sacrifice fly to give RSU a 2-0 lead in the game. 

But UCO's response in the bottom of the first was big.

UCO drew four walks, two on each side of a strikeout, to get its first run on the board. Philip Scott and Joe Mondragon drew walks before Kyle Crowl struck out. Then Garrett Takamatsu and Shane Nixon both drew walks, the latter scoring Scott, and UCO trailed 2-1.

Kameron Kilchrist followed with the first hit of the game for the Bronchos, a single through the left side that scored Mondragon and Takamatsu. That gave UCO a 3-2 lead and the Bronchos never looked back.

Zac Freeman laid down a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher to score Nixon. Ryan Harrel singled to score Kilchrist. Then a double steal with Harrel and Bennett Laurence, who drew a walk of his own after Freeman's sac bunt, worked out in favor of the Bronchos. Laurence scored on the play as Harrel worked a run down long enough to give UCO a 6-2 lead after the first inning. 

Central added six more in the second inning to take command.

Scott led off with a single and advanced to second on an error. Mondragon then reached on an error himself as he laid down a sac bunt. Crowl knocked in Scott with a single to center that made it 7-2. That was all for Rogers State starter Brett Karalius. 

Takamatsu was the first to see Sean Craig out of the Rogers bullpen and he was hit by an 0-1 pitch to load the bases. Nixon followed with a three-RBI double to left center and UCO had a 10-2 lead in the game. 

Nixon scored when a failed pickoff attempt at second went awry for RSU. Freeman also scored later in the inning on a Laurence single up the middle. 

UCO put one more on the board in the third. Scott and Mondragon both singled to leadoff the inning and Takamatsu was again hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Nixon reached on a fielder's choice to shortstop and Scott scored on the play to make it 13-2. 

UCO made it 14-4 in the bottom of the fourth with Laurence scoring Freeman again. 

Central poured on the last of its runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Kilchrist led off with a single and Freeman drew a walk, then Laurence did too after a pitching change. Harrel then mirrored an earlier play by Nixon and reached on a fielder's choice that scored Kilchrist. 

Scott followed with a single to score Laurence. Mondragon scored Scott with a double to right field. And Crowl smacked a two-run home run to score himself and Mondragon and give UCO a 19-4 lead.

UCO scored 19 runs off 15 hits Thursday. Eight of nine Central batters had at least one hit and five of those eight had more than one.

Scott led UCO, going 4-for-4 with four runs scored. He also had an RBI. Mondragon went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and one RBI. Crowl went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs. 

Nixon went just 1-for-3, but scored twice and had five RBIs. Kilchrist went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI and Freeman went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and one RBI. Laurence went 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs, and Harrel wnet 1-for-4 with two RBIs. 

Takamatsu was the only Broncho to step to the plate and not get a hit Thursday, but the junior catcher did score twice in the game.

Luke Anderson got the start for UCO and picked up the win, improving to 6-5 on the season. The junior righty threw five innings, allowed six hits and four runs and issued four walks. He struck out three in the start. 

Lawson Isaacs came on in relief and got UCO through the sixth and seventh innings. Isaacs threw two innings, allowed two hits and two runs, and struck out one batter to finish off the game. 

Central Oklahoma advances in the tournament and will play Central Missouri in the winner's bracket final Friday at 11 a.m. The winner of that game moves to the MIAA Championship. The loser will play a consolation final Friday at 7 p.m. The 2021 MIAA Baseball Championship game is scheduled for Saturday at noon with an if necessary game following.
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