February 6, 2008
Oklahoma Baptist didn't have any trouble scoring runs Wednesday in sweeping Tabor College, but getting it all done before dark was another matter.
OBU took both ends of the doubleheader 16-10 and 19-7, sending pitchers to pinch hit and swing at anything that moved in the bottom of the fourth inning in a successful effort to get the game in before darkness overtook Bison Field at Ford Park.
Tabor, in their first games of the year, issued 24 walks in the two games. OBU's 35 runs in the doubleheader came on 22 hits.
OBU actually played from behind for the first time this season. Down 2-0 in the first inning of the opener, scored four runs in the bottom of the first with a two-run double by Josh Kirkpatrick and RBI walks by Cody Lambeth and Chris Chambers.
Tabor scored six times in the second for an 8-4 lead, but the inability of the Blue Jay pitchers to hit their spots did them in as OBU tied the game with four more runs in the second. The Bison got a sacrifice flies by Josh Collazo and Anthony Robertson and RBI walks by Lambeth and Frank Avilla.
Christian Ruiz launched a three-run home run of the right field foul pole in the fourth for an 11-8 lead. Chambers tripled home a run and scored on a sacrifice fly by Collazo for a 13-8 advantage in the fifth.
Tabor scored twice in the sixth, but OBU answered with three in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run home run by Mason Reilly and an RBI single by Kyle Cooper.
Derek Edwards (1-0) picked up the win in relief, allowing one earned run in four innings.
Ruiz, Cooper and Chambers had two hits each to lead the nine-hit offense of the Bison.
The Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the second game as well, but OBU answered with another four-run salvo with an RBI fielders choice by Collazo and a three-run double by Keith Johnson.
OBU made it 10-2 with a six-run second that included RBI singles by Chambers, Kirkpatrick and Avilla.
Tabor put five runs on the board on three hits and two OBU errors in the third inning, but the Bison responded with a nine-run outburst.
Chambers opened the scoring with a two-run home run, Avilla drew a bases-loaded walk, Robertson added a two-run single, followed by an RBI fielders choice by Ruiz and RBI singles by Reilly, Chambers and Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick and Chambers had three hits apiece in the game, while Cooper and Johnson each added two in the 13-hit outburst.
Spencer Hylander (1-0) picked up the win with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Now 6-0, the Bison take on College of the Southwest and Hardin-Simmons in Abilene, Texas, Friday. OBU is averaging more than 16 runs per game.