Baseball 5/21/2021 2:34:00 PM Chris Brannick

UCO Downed In MIAA Tourney

JOPLIN, Mo. – The University of Central Oklahoma dropped an 11-7 decision to Central Missouri Friday in the winner's bracket final of the 2021 MIAA Baseball Championship.

UCO is still alive in the double elimination tournament and will play the winner of Rogers State and Pittsburg State tonight at 7 p.m. in an elimination game.

Central Oklahoma jumped out to an early lead. The Bronchos recorded a hit in each of their first three at bats in the top of the first inning Friday.

Philip Scott led off with a single, but was thrown out caught stealing before Joe Mondragon singled himself. Kyle Crowl followed the second single with a two-run home run to left field that gave the Bronchos an early 2-0 lead.

UCO made it 3-0 in the top of the second when Kameron Kilchrist knocked a solo homer.

Central Missouri though, the No. 2 ranked team in the country and the top seed in the tournament, scored the next 10 runs. UCM scored four in the bottom of the second and six more in the bottom of the fourth.

After a 13-minute rain delay in the middle of the sixth, UCO answered in the top of the seventh. Bennett Laurence smacked a solo homer to make it 10-4, then Mondragon scored on a wild pitch and Crowl scored on a single from Garrett Takamatsu to make it 10-6.

UCM added one more in the bottom of the seventh and Scott singled to score Zac Freeman in the top of the eighth to make it the final, 11-7.

Scott finished 2-for-4 with an RBI. Crowl led the Bronchos with a 3-for-5 game, two RBIs, and two runs scored.

Mondragon, who scored twice, went 1-for-5. Takamatsu, Shane Nixon, Kilchrist, Freeman and Laurence all had one hit.

Jacob Bailey got the start for the Bronchos. He threw 3 1/3, allowing nine runs on 10 hits. He did strikeout four in the start. Colton Croft threw 2 2/3 innings of relief work, striking out one while allowing one run on two hits. Kyler Patterson allowed three hits and a run in two innings of work. He struck out three in the outing.

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Players Mentioned

#35 Jacob Bailey: P; 6' 0"; Sophomore; */R

#23 Colton Croft: P; 6' 1"; Sophomore; R/R

#12 Kyle Crowl: IF; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#4 Zac Freeman: OF; 6' 0"; Junior; L/R

#26 Bennett Laurence: OF; 5' 9"; Freshman; R/R

#17 Joe Mondragon: 1B; 6' 1"; Senior; L/R

#15 Kyler Patterson: P; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R

#27 Philip Scott: IF; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#33 Garrett Takamatsu: C/IF; 6' 0"; Junior; R/R

#31 Kameron Kilchrist: IF; 6' 1"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#35 Jacob Bailey
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; */R
: P

#23 Colton Croft
: 6' 1"; Sophomore; R/R
: P

#12 Kyle Crowl
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: IF

#4 Zac Freeman
: 6' 0"; Junior; L/R
: OF

#26 Bennett Laurence
: 5' 9"; Freshman; R/R
: OF

#17 Joe Mondragon
: 6' 1"; Senior; L/R
: 1B

#15 Kyler Patterson
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R
: P

#27 Philip Scott
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: IF

#33 Garrett Takamatsu
: 6' 0"; Junior; R/R
: C/IF

#31 Kameron Kilchrist
: 6' 1"; Junior; R/R
: IF