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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Tucker Elliott
1
Emporia State ESU 20-29, 12-20 MIAA
4
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 29-19, 20-12 MIAA
Emporia State ESU
20-29, 12-20 MIAA
1
Final
4
Central Oklahoma UCO
29-19, 20-12 MIAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Emporia State ESU 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 1
Central Oklahoma UCO 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 X 4 10 0

W: Elliott, Tucker (6-3) L: Bechtel, Aaron (1-8) S: Patterson, Kyler (9)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Chris Brannick

Bronchos Clinch Home Playoff Series With Win Over ESU

EDMOND – Central Oklahoma beat Emporia State 4-1 on Saturday to clinch the MIAA series and a home playoff series next weekend as the Bronchos ready for the postseason.
 
UCO is now 29-18 on the season overall and 20-12 in league play. Sunday is the final day of the 2022 regular season and the Bronchos host the Hornets at 1 p.m. Central can move up to third in the standings with a win plus a Pittsburg State loss. UCO is in fourth as of Saturday night and can finish no lower than that win or lose.
 
The 2022 MIAA Baseball Championship begins Friday, May 6. The top four teams in the league standings will host a best-of-three series against the next four squads next weekend. The four advancing teams will all meet in Edmond May 12-15 for a double elimination tournament to decide the league championship.
 
"We're just trying to play our best ball now," UCO head baseball coach John Martin said. "This weekend is like the playoffs, battling for a spot. It's good to get us ready for next weekend. We're excited to be able to host the first round."
 
Central Oklahoma has made the postseason in 6 of 7 seasons since Martin became the head coach, with the lone exception the canceled 2020 season.
 
Saturday afternoon, Central Oklahoma posted one run in four different innings behind stellar pitching performances from Tucker Elliott, Beaux Bonvillain and Kyler Patterson.
 
Elliott got the start – and the win. He threw five innings, allowing one run on six hits and one walk. The senior right-hander recorded seven strikeouts. Bonvillain came on in relief and threw three innings, striking out four batters while not giving up a single baserunner. He faced nine batters and retired them all (four Ks, four groundouts, one flyout).
 
Patterson then closed it out, recording his ninth save of the season. He threw the ninth inning, giving up one hit. But he got a groundout after that and then struck out the final two batters to get Central one more in the win column.
 
Garrett Takamatsu led Central Oklahoma at the plate again on Saturday. He went 3-for-5 with an RBI, registering three singles a day after posting three doubles and a homer against Emporia.
 
Clayton Peterson went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and Landen Wood went 2-for-4. Jaden Parsons had one hit, one RBI and one run scored. Seth Gray went 1-for-3 with an RBI double. And Kaleb Glass also went 1-for-3 on the day.
 
Gray doubled down the left field line in the bottom of the second inning to score Glass and give Central a 1-0 lead. Emporia got one back in the third with a leadoff double followed by an RBI single.
 
But the Bronchos took it right back in the bottom of the inning with Peterson's solo shot to right field.
 
Parsons singled to right and scored Wyatt Gray, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning, to give Central a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Then Takamatsu singled through the left side to score Parsons, who reached on a two-out error, to give Central Oklahoma a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Central Oklahoma put two on the eighth but didn't add to the lead before Patterson came in to shut it down for the Bronchos.
 
Central and Emporia State will play the final game of their three-game MIAA series Sunday at 1 p.m. UCO will honor 11 seniors playing their final regular season home game for the Bronchos prior to first pitch.
 
 
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