Bartlesville, Oklahoma – McPherson College squared off against the Eagles of Oklahoma Wesleyan University over the weekend for their 5th KCAC weekend series of the year. After suffering a tough 13-2 midweek loss to Kansas Wesleyan University, the Bulldogs sought after a win to get them back on track as they hold a spot in the upper half of the league standings.
The Basics
Location: Doenges Stadium
Records: MC 13-16 (10-8 KCAC), OKWU 19-12 (10-8 KCAC)
Game One: MC 10, OKWU 11
After three innings of action, the score stood at 1-1; McPherson scored their run in the top of the third inning after Jaylon Woodley drove home Ky’rell Taylor on an RBI double.
The Eagles had worked their way to a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Bulldogs would answer in the seventh. With bases loaded for McPherson, Will Sevier hammered a grand slam on a 1-2 pitch that gave the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead in the blink of an eye. Myles Vazquez’s sac fly three batters later would extend McPherson’s lead to 6-4.
Oklahoma Wesleyan knotted the game back up at 6-6 after a home run from JT Maloney in the bottom half of the seventh.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Bulldogs had worked their way to a 10-8 lead on the brink of taking Game One. The Eagles would score three runs and walk it off on Luis Antigua’s RBI single for the 11-10 victory.
Game Two: MC 9, OKWU 5
It wouldn’t be until the top of the third inning in Game Two that the Bulldogs found their first run; Myles Vazquez blasted a first-pitch swing over the fence for the 1-0 lead over Oklahoma Wesleyan.
After trading runs with each other, the Bulldogs blew the game open from the top of the fifth inning to the top of the sixth. McPherson put up a five-spot in the top of the fifth highlighted with three home runs. Connor Baker, Troy Stukenberg, and Vazquez combined for the five runs off of their home runs. After three batters came and went for OKWU in the bottom half of the inning, McPherson added two more runs in the sixth with back-to-back home runs from Ky’rell Taylor and Jaylon Woodley.
Despite giving up two more runs, the Bulldogs held on for the 9-5 victory to tie the series at 1-1.
Game Three: MC 10, OKWU 11
Oklahoma Wesleyan jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead through the first two innings of the series-deciding Game Three; that was until the bats came to life in the third inning for McPherson. Woodley sparked the five-spot in the third with a solo home run on a 3-1 pitch for McPherson’s first run. After Marcus Patton’s RBI double, Sevier went yard for the second time throughout the weekend, batting home three more runs to give McPherson the 5-4 lead.
The fourth inning was also good to McPherson as the Bulldogs scored four more runs. Patton added on two more to his RBI total for game three, followed by Steele Jackson’s RBI single. Patton scored later in the inning on a passed ball to give McPherson a 9-4 lead. With bases loaded in the fifth for the Bulldogs, Isaiah Berard scored McPherson’s final run after Woodley was hit by a pitch.
The Eagles, down 10-4, went on to score seven unanswered runs through the last three innings to take the 11-10 win, giving OKWU the series win.
