Baseball 4/9/2022 4:59:00 PM Chris Brannick

Central Evens Series At Washburn

TOPEKA, Kan. – Central Oklahoma jumped out to an early lead and kept its foot on the gas Saturday with a 12-3 victory over Washburn.

UCO, now 21-14 on the season and 13-9 in the MIAA, evened the series with the Ichabods following a setback Friday night. Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.

"The offense did a good job today of taking advantage of our opportunities," UCO head baseball coach John Martin said. "We felt like we left something out there Friday and they did a good job of not doing that today. And our pitching was really strong to help us on defense."

Tucker Elliott's dominant afternoon spurred the Bronchos to victory. The senior right-hander threw six innings, allowing just one run on five hits. He issued two walks, but also struck out four batters in earning the win.

Jacob Bailey threw one inning of relief work behind Elliott and recorded a three-up, three-down inning.

Jase Farmer came on to pitch in the eighth and though he gave up one hit and one walk, got out of that inning unscathed. He walked the first two batters of the ninth before recording a strikeout and getting a groundout for the second out of the inning.

Blake Bautz came on to pitch with two outs in the ninth and runners on second and third. He gave up a two-run single that made it the final, 12-3, before recording the final out of the game with a pop-up to short.

Central Oklahoma used a big second inning to jump out in front on Saturday. Wyatt Gray hit a one-out single through the left side, then moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a balk. He soon scored on another wild pitch to give UCO a 1-0 lead.

Kaleb Glass, who walked after Gray and then stole second base, moved to third on the wild pitch that Gray scored on.

Zac Freeman also drew a walk and also stole second. Both he and Glass scored on a Jaden Parsons single up the middle and Central led 3-0.

Freeman scored again in the fourth after drawing another walk. He stole second again too, but an error by the Washburn shortstop allowed him to score on the play and give Central Oklahoma a 4-0 lead.

UCO scored four more in the sixth inning to extend the lead. Seth Gray singled through the left side to score Glass and Noah Olson, Freeman scored for the third time in the game and on another throwing error by Washburn, and then Landen Wood scored while Parsons distracted WU with a rundown on the other side of the base path.

Garrett Takamatsu made it 9-1 in the seventh, scoring on Wyatt Gray's double down the right field line.

Wood made it 8-1 in the sixth. He made it 9-1 scoring again in the seventh inning. He crossed home plate on a single through the left side by Parsons.

Central got the last of its 12 runs in the ninth inning and did so with two outs. Glass reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to second on a balk, and third on a wild pitch. After Seth Gray drew a walk and Freeman was hit by a pitch, a off-kilter play ended the inning but not before two more baserunners could score.

Wood reached on an error by the shortstop and was thrown out at second, but Glass and Seth Gray both scored to give Central a 12-1 lead.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#37 Blake Bautz: P; 6' 3"; Junior; */L

#0 Jaden Parsons: SS; 5' 10"; Sophomore; L/R

#3 Noah Olson: OF; 5' 10"; Sophomore; L/R

#6 Landen Wood: OF; 6' 0"; Junior; L/L

#17 Wyatt Gray: C; 6' 1"; Sophomore; B/R

#23 Tucker Elliott: P; 5' 11"; Junior; */R

#1 Kaleb Glass: OF; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#37 Blake Bautz
: 6' 3"; Junior; */L
: P

#0 Jaden Parsons
: 5' 10"; Sophomore; L/R
: SS

#3 Noah Olson
: 5' 10"; Sophomore; L/R
: OF

#6 Landen Wood
: 6' 0"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#17 Wyatt Gray
: 6' 1"; Sophomore; B/R
: C

#23 Tucker Elliott
: 5' 11"; Junior; */R
: P

#1 Kaleb Glass
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R
: OF