#25 USAO Wins 20-0 in Regular Season Finale at OPSU
GOODWELL, Okla. – Sunday afternoon, the No. 25 ranked University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (31-17, 17-7 SAC) concluded the series sweep with a dominant 20-0 victory in the regular season finale at Oklahoma Panhandle State University (8-34-1, 3-21 SAC).
On Saturday, the Drovers picked up an 11-5 win in the first game of the series, followed by a 12-2 victory in game two.
With the three-game sweep, the Drovers improve to 19-0 against the Aggies all-time, dating back to March 23, 2018. Over the weekend, USAO outscored OPSU by a wide margin of 43-7.
Science & Arts will be the No. 2 seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, while Texas Wesleyan will be the No. 1 seed after they earned the SAC regular season championship with a three-game series at MACU, who will be the No. 4 seed.
The Drovers used an explosive start to take an early 4-0 lead, with a pair of two-run homeruns from Peyton McDowall and Antonio Hrynkiw in the top of the first inning.
Science & Arts stretched the lead to 14-0 with seven runs in the top of the third inning, followed by three more in the fourth, courtesy of Luke Lewis' three-run homer.
USAO continued to add insurance with six runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by Gage Gaunt's three-run homer.
Kaden Alexander got the start on the mound for USAO and improved his record to 5-3 this season. Alexander delivered 5.0 scoreless innings and allowed only two hits, while striking out six batters.
Hagen Earls relieved Alexander in the with a scoreless sixth inning, and he struck out one batter. Brian Ereu struck out two batters in the scoreless seventh inning.
As a team, the Drovers produced 14 hits, coming from nine different players. Antonio Hrynkiw led the way for USAO, going 3-4 with a walk, a homerun, two runs scored, and a run batted in.
Gage Gaunt drove in four runs as he concluded 2-5 with his 10th homerun of the season, along with three runs scored and four RBIs.
Gabriel Arroyo was perfect at the plate, going 2-2 with a walk, two runs, two runs batted in, while Nick Fleckenstein went 2-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs.
Peyton McDowall concluded 1-2 with two walks, his 10th homer of the year, three runs scored, and three runs batted in.
Luke Lewis drove in five runs as he went 1-5 with a homerun and two runs scored. Ryan Duncan went 1-2 with a walk and two runs scored, while Gunnar Hansen went 1-2 with a double and a run scored. Gunnar Wicklund singled in his only at bat of the game.
-USAO Baseball Schedule by The Numbers-
- #25 in latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll
- #22 in latest Perfect Game Top 25 Poll
- #18 overall in latest NAIA BO CHIP report
- #18 in latest RPI rankings
- #6 Strength of schedule in NAIA
- Only 5 of 20 opponents have sub .500 records
- 10 of 19 NAIA opponents have been ranked or receiving votes in Top 25 poll at some point this season
- USAO has won 12 of 15 "series" so far
- *series of 2 games or more*
- Series victories vs #5 Bellevue (2-0), #14 TX Wes (3-0), RV McPherson (2-1), RV MACU (2-1)
- 9-6 record vs teams currently in Top 25 or RV
- USAO has won 6 of 8 conference series'.
- 0-3 L at SAGU
- 2-1 W vs MACU
- 3-0 W vs TX WES
- 3-0 W vs CCC
- 2-1 W vs SCU
- 3-0 W vs WBU
- 1-2 L at OCU
- 3-0 W at OPSU
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Drovers will begin postseason play on Friday, May 5 as they host the SAC Tournament at Bill Smith Ballpark. USAO will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face the No. 7 seed in the first round.
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