Fleckenstein and Butz Lead Drovers to Victory Against WBU in SAC Tournament

CHICKASHA, Okla. – Saturday afternoon, the No. 2 seed University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (33-17, 17-7 SAC) continued to advance in the winner's bracket of the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament with a 9-2 triumph against No. 6 Wayland Baptist University (29-21, 12-12 SAC).

With the win, the Drovers are now 40-14 all-time against the Pioneers, a series which dates to March 31, 2007. Furthermore, Science & Arts has won 22 of the last 23 meetings against Wayland Baptist since May 9, 2016.

Science & Arts has emerged victories in each of their last six games, as well as in 20 of their last 25 games overall. During the six-game win-streak, USAO has outscoring opponents 84-38. 

Despite playing on their home field, the Drovers were the visiting team on the scoreboard and managed to capture the first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning.

Wayland Baptist quickly responded and cut their deficit in half, with one run in the bottom of the second.

The score remained 2-1 until Ryan Duncan delivered a three-run double to give USAO a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning.

Science & Arts added more insurance with a four-run outburst in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 7-1 going into the seventh. 

WBU rallied for one final run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but it was far too little, too late for the Pioneers. 

Reed Butz got the start on the mound for the Drovers and delivered a tremendous performance, going 8.0 innings, only surrendering one run on five hits, and he struck out 14 batters. Claudio Rodriguez closed the game out in the ninth and struck out one batter in the process.

As a team, the Drovers produced 14 hits on offense, five of which came off the bat of Nick Fleckenstein. Fleckenstein led USAO with a perfect 5-5 performance, adding a run scored and a run batted in.

Ryan Duncan drove in a trio of runs as he finished 2-5 with a double and a run scored. Gunnar Hansen also provided a pair of hits, going 2-4 with a pair of runs scored. 

Gabriel Arroyo and Christopher Martinez each singled and scored in the win. Gage Gaunt blasted a double, while Peyton McDowall and Will Hoch each contributed a single. 

USAO Baseball Schedule by The Numbers

• #25 in latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll
• #22 in latest Perfect Game Top 25 Poll
• #22 overall in latest NAIA BO CHIP report
• #18 in latest RPI rankings
• #10 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 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
  • 3-1 W vs SCU
  • 4-0 W vs WBU
  • 1-2 L at OCU
  • 3-0 W at OPSU

WHAT'S NEXT?

Science & Arts will once again take on No. 6 seeded Wayland Baptist University on Sunday, May 7 at 1:00 PM at Bill Smith Ballpark. USAO is one win away from advancing to the SAC Tournament championship game. For WBU to advance to the championship game, they would have to defeat the Drovers twice on Sunday.

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