Drovers Come Up Short in SAC Tournament Championship
CHICKASHA, Okla. – Monday afternoon, the No. 2 seed University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (34-18, 17-7 SAC) suffered a tough 13-3 loss in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship against No. 3 Oklahoma City University (29-19, 16-8 SAC).
The SAC Tournament championship game appearance was the fifth in a row for Science & Arts, and they got off to an incredible start on Monday, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning on Peyton McDowall's 15th homerun of the season. However, those would be the only three runs of the game for USAO.
Oklahoma City University went on to score 13 unanswered runs over the final five innings of action. OCU scored once in the third, followed by a huge six-run fourth inning. The Stars brought in two runs in each of the final three innings of play, including the two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, enforcing the "mercy rule".
Josh Harrel got the start for the Drovers on the mound, going 3.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on nine hits and he struck out five batters as his record fell to 7-4 this season.
Harrel was relieved by Claudio Rodriguez and Boone Lasater in the fourth inning and Hagen Earls entered the game in the sixth inning.
At the plate, the Drovers tallied six hits, while the Stars produced 16. Additionally, USAO committed four fielding errors, while OCU only committed one miscue on defense.
Gunnar Hansen led the Drovers at the dish, going 2-3 with a pair of singles. Peyton McDowall launched his fifth longball of the postseason as he concluded 1-2 with a walk and three runs batted in.
Christopher Martinez, Ben Lawson, and Ryan Duncan each added singles in the loss.
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
- 5-0 W vs WBU
- 1-3 L at OCU
- 3-0 W at OPSU
WHAT'S NEXT?
Science & Arts now awaits the NAIA Selection Show on Thursday, May 11 at 4:00 PM CT available on the NAIA's official YouTube channel. If the Drovers are selected into the NAIA Baseball National Championship tournament, it would be the 9th appearance in program history.
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