Casey Moses
Chuck Greeson
14
Texas Wesleyan TXWES 45-13
15
Winner Oklahoma City OCU 45-8
Texas Wesleyan TXWES
45-13
14
Final
15
Oklahoma City OCU
45-8
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Texas Wesleyan TXWES 1 0 2 2 0 7 0 0 2 14 15 3
Oklahoma City OCU 0 0 1 0 7 3 0 1 3 15 18 6

W: Lyons (2-0) L: O'Brien, Andrew (5-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

No. 1 OCU Tops No. 12 Texas Wesleyan in Thrilling SAC Championship Game

CHICKASHA, OK:  The 12th ranked Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (45-13) came within two outs of knocking off the nation's top-ranked team, Oklahoma City University (45-8), in the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship Game at USAO's Bill Smith Ballpark on Monday.  The Rams led 14-12 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning before the Stars pulled off a come-from-behind 15-14 victory.
 
Pitching staffs for both teams were stretched to the limit as the Rams were playing their sixth game of the tournament which started on Friday, while OCU was playing its fourth contest in the four-day span.
 
The game was remarkably similar to the first meeting of the season between these teams.  In that contest, the Rams held leads in the ninth and 13th innings before the Stars pulled out a 9-8 win.
 
On Monday, the Rams broke a 12-12 tie score in the ninth inning with an RBI double from Luis Roman and a suicide squeeze bunt from Casey Moses.  In the bottom of the ninth, the Stars loaded the bases with one out.  Jared Baker followed with a two-run single to tie the game, and, two batters later, Corey Linn drove in the winning run with a base hit.
 
Playing with an exhausted pitching staff, the Rams needed to start strong, and they did just that, building a 5-1 lead in the first four innings.  The Rams got an RBI double from Kiki Minendez in the first, RBI singles from Menendez and Moses in the third, and then benefitted from four OCU errors in the fourth to plate two more runs.
 
Meanwhile Alex Lopez, who started against Wayland Baptist in the first round of the tournament on Friday, allowed only one run in his first four innings of work.
 
The fireworks started in the bottom of the fifth inning as the two teams combined to put 17 runs on the board in the space of an inning and a half.  OCU sent ten men to the plate and scored seven runs on five hits including a three-run homer from Brandon Grieger in the bottom of the fifth.
 
The Rams answered right back with a seven-spot of their own in the top of the sixth.  With two runs already in and the scoreboard reading 8-7, Casey Moses hit the scoreboard with a grand slam home run to put the Rams back on top 11-8.  Garrett Crook capped off the big inning with an RBI double to give the Rams a four-run cushion.
 
The sparks kept flying as Baker ripped a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the margin down to 12-11.
 
Andrew O'Brien came out of the TXWES bullpen and restored some order, allowing just a run on three hits in the next two innings.
 
The Stars loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth inning.  After third-baseman Luis Roman cut down a run at the plate for the first out, Garrett Foster pushed in a run with a groundball to first to tie the game at 12-12 and set up the dramatic ninth inning.
 
O'Brien (5-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs, two earned, in three innings pitched.  Holden Lyons (2-0) allowed two runs in 1.2 innings to pick up the win.
 
Moses finished 3-for-5 with six RBI.  Menendez was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI.  Roman finished just 1-for-2, but drew four walks and scored four runs in the contest.
 
In six SAC Tournament games, Texas Wesleyan scored a remarkable 59 runs.  The team batted .329 with 11 doubles, 12 home runs, and 58 RBI.  Caden Willimas batted .480 (12-25) with three home runs and seven RBI.  Kiki Menendez hit .423 (11-26) with three home runs and nine RBI.  Casey Moses led the team with 12 RBI while batting .320 (8-25).
 
The Rams now await the release of the qualifiers for the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round which is set to begin on Monday, May 15.  As the SAC Tournament Champion, the Stars receive an automatic bid to the National Tournament.  Texas Wesleyan's No. 12 national rating should be enough to earn the team an at-large bid as well.
 
Ramblings
 
- Texas Wesleyan won the SAC regular season championship last year and finished second in the standings this season (one game behind OCU).
 
- Texas Wesleyan is now 7-7 all-time in SAC Tournament play.  Oklahoma City leads the all-time series 34-9-2.
 
- With 12 home runs in the SAC Tournament, the Rams pushed their season total to 62, matching the program's highest total since 2009.
 
- Caden Williams has hit safely in 17 consecutive games.  That is the second-longest streak on the team this season, trailing only an 18-game stretch from Alex Gudac earlier this year.  Meanwhile, Blake Seaton has hit safely in 15 consecutive games.
 
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