AUSTIN, Texas – Oklahoma Christian delivered its best shots of the series, but St. Edward's baseball took each one and answered in kind, matching Oklahoma Christian home run for home run in a 14-13 win to sweep the series.
Oklahoma Christian flashed its power all weekend with big swings for home runs accounting for all three of its earned runs in the first three games. On Sunday, the Eagles finally combined a steady stream of hits to supplement it.
Blake Empkey gave the Eagles an early lead with a three-run blast in the first, driving in Preston King and Hunter Jones for his second home run of the weekend. Then, Ethan Box drew a walk and later scored on a Hank Heiselbetz RBI single to center field before JACK ENGELMANN replaced LUKE NEGRETE on the mound to get out of the inning.
The Eagles added three more runs in the third on a three-run home run from Jaren Hill after Box and Grant Lake reached on singles.
St. Edward's kept its steady pace like the villain in a horror movie, never rushing but forever lurking around the corner.
CULLEN AINSWORTH sparked St. Edward's in the second inning with a stand-up triple off the right-center wall, and LUKE JOHNSON drove him in with an RBI double to left field. JOSH GRAHAM moved Johnson over with a groundout to third, then MATTHEW GILES drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.
St. Edward's responded to Hill's three-run homer in the third with four runs in the bottom of the inning. First, TREVOR SEBEK reached on an error with one out, then CONNOR COX singled through the right side to put runners on first and second. Then, CULLEN AINSWORTH hit a shot to shortstop to reach on a fielder's choice, beating the 643 double play by sliding headfirst into first, scoring Cox.
The effort bought an extra at-bat for Johnson, who hit a two-run blast that exploded off the bat so quickly it could be said to have teleported over the left-field fence.
Oklahoma starting pitcher Matthew Shira followed with two inside the batter's box pitches to JOSH GRAHAM, plunking him on the second one before leaving the game for Garrett Boone, who got out of the inning.
JARED SCHAEFFER took the mound for St. Edward's to start the fourth and surrendered a leadoff home run to King before retiring the next three hitters in order.
St. Edward's loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, but Nathan Kwan replaced Boone and struck out Johnson to escape the inning unscathed.
DAVIS DREWEK made his first extended return to the lineup in the bottom of the fifth, entering the game to bat for A.J. Myers and driving the ball to left field for a single before Kyle Kerlin flied out to left field to end the inning.
After steadily chipping away at Oklahoma Christian's lead, St. Edward's explode for seven runs in the sixth. Sebek hit a leadoff single up the middle, and Kwan walked Cox, ending his afternoon. Then, LANCE LITTLE welcomed Jayden Saylor to the game with an opposite-field home run for a three-run blast.
Saylor settled in long enough to strike out Ainsworth, then unraveled again by hitting Johnson and surrendering back-to-back singles into left field from Graham and Giles, with the latter scoring Johnson.
Oklahoma Christian turned to reliever Andrew Alonzo and Drewek turned to the heavy artillery, delivering a three-run blast that cleared the right-field net protecting the neighborhood houses behind Lucian-Hamilton field for the 13-8 lead.
NICOLAS DAVIS took the mound for St. Edward's to start the seventh and retired three in a row with two strikeouts after surrendering a leadoff double.
AUSTIN ESSEX replaced Davis in the eighth and surrendered a leadoff home run to Hill. Essex surrendered a single and walk between two outs, putting runners on second and third with a wild pitch before striking out Marcus Johnson to limit the damage.
KEVIN SKWERES replaced Essex to start the ninth and quickly got two outs, but Oklahoma Christian rallied with six consecutive hitters reaching on five hits and a hit batter. Heiselbetz started the rally with a double to left-center, then Hill singled through the left side to put runners in the corners.
Aaron Hunter delivered an RBI single to right, and King loaded the bases with a single to left. Skewers hit Jones to score Hill, then Empkey tied the game with a two-RBI single through the left side before Skweres struck out Johnson to end the inning.
Chris Huerta took the mound to start the ninth inning for Oklahoma Christian and walked Sebek and Cox after getting Kerlin to ground out to open the inning. The Eagles replaced Alonzo with Alex Bruce, who threw a wild pitch to move Cox and Sebek to second and third.
With anything hit into the outfield likely to score the walk-off on a hit or sacrifice fly, Oklahoma Christian moved an outfielder into the infield. However, the strategy didn't matter as Little ripped a hard grounder to first that Box bobbled, scoring Sebek to end the game.
Little, Johnson, Giles, and Drewek had two hits each for the Hilltoppers. Little, Johnson, and Drewek each homered, and Little had a team-high four RBIs. Johnson had three RBIs, and three runs scored; Giles had two RBIs, and a run scored, and Drewek had three RBIs and a run scored.
St. Edward's improves to 27-6 with a 25-6 conference record. The Hilltoppers will travel to San Antonio next weekend to play St. Mary's, with the first game on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.
