OKLAHOMA CITY-- The Texas Wesleyan Baseball Team (34-18, 15-9 SAC) suffered a 9-4 loss in the second round of the conference tournament against Oklahoma City University (45-4, 22-2) on Saturday afternoon at Jim Wade Stadium, The Rams bounced back with a quick turnaround, defeating Mid-America Christian (31-19, 12-12) 9-7 in an elimination game.

In the first game, OCU blazed its way to five runs in the first three innings of the game and never looked back. TXWES battled back late. scoring four runs in the last two innings of the game, but it was not enough to complete the comeback. 

The Rams tallied nine hits, four RBI's, and one walk in 35 at-bats. Tomas Sanchez led the way offensively for the Rams with three hits and an RBI in four at-bats. Chaesten Chon tallied three RBI's and scored a run in three at-bats. 

Justin Ward picked up his first loss of the season after giving up 6 runs, 5 hits, and fanning three batters in 4.1 innings of work. Matt Espinosa pitched three innings, allowing one hit, and recording five strikeouts in twelve batters faced. TXWES had to bounce back quick, facing MACU directly after losing to OCU. 

In the second game of the day, TXWES wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with three runs in the top of the first inning. Hayden Hutchins hammered a three-run shot to left field. Two innings later, Marcos Sanchez blasted a solo shot over the right center-field wall to extend the lead to 4-1. The very next batter, Kevin Santiago blasted a solo shot to extend the lead to 5-1.

In the next inning, Santiago blasted his second home-run of the game, this one a two-run shot to extend the Rams lead to 7-1. MACU came blazing back scoring six unanswered runs in the next two innings. In the top half of the sixth inning, Santiago continued his tremendous day at the plate with a two-run double to give TXWES a 9-7 lead. The Rams were able to close out the last four innings of the game without allowing a run to advance to the next round of the tournament. 

Ian Landreneau was on the bump to start the game and went three innings, allowing five runs, five hits, and striking out two batters. David Theriot was outstanding out of the bullpen as he went six innings, allowing five hits two runs, and fanned six batters. Theriot picked up his team-high eleventh win of the season.

Kevin Santiago led the way at the plate for the Rams with three hits (two home-runs) and five RBI's in four at-bats. Marcos Sanchez also recorded three hits (one home-run) and tacked on an RBI. TXWES will face OCU tomorrow for the second time in two days at 2 p.m. The Rams have to defeat OCU two times tomorrow to advance to the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship series on Monday.