OTTAWA, Kan. – The Ottawa University baseball team split with York University on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Park. The Braves won game one, 14-4, but fell in game two, 13-11, in eight innings.
Game One
The Braves struck first, taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Tyler Farnham reached on a walk.
Cole Broughton took the first pitch he saw and sent the ball over the fence, giving OU a 2-0 lead.
Blaine Thomas followed that with a home run of his own, this one on the fourth pitch of the at bat, and the Braves had a 3-0 lead.
Nicholas Sizemore singled to right and advanced to second on a ground out by
Pedro Astacio.
Marcellus Pearson hit a home run on a 1-1 count and Ottawa led 5-0.
York cut into the Brave lead with two runs in the top of the second, 5-2. The Braves responded with three runs in the bottom of the third.
Astacio increased the Brave lead to 6-2 with a home run. Pearson followed that with a double to left. After a Panther pitching change, Trey McClellan doubled to left and Pearson scored, increasing the OU lead 7-2.
Anthony Soria's single to left scored McClellan and OU had an 8-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Braves pushed two more runs across home plate. Pearson hit a triple to left and scored on Soria's infield single to give the Braves a 9-2 lead. Farnham reached first on a fielder's choice and then moved to third on an error by the YU second baseman. Broughton's double to center scored Franham and Ottawa led 10-2.
York hit a home run in the top of the sixth to cut OU's lead to 10-3 but the Braves earned that run back, plus one more, in the bottom of the sixth.
Back-to-back walks by
Liam Vulcano and Sizemore gave OU two runners on with no outs. A wild throw by the Panther catcher scored Vulcano and
Robby Williams, who was in as a courtesy runner for Sizemore, moved to third. Williams scored on a single by
Jaquavius Davis, increasing the OU lead to 12-3.
In the top of the seventh, the Panthers scored a run to cut the Brave lead to 12-4. Ottawa earned that run back in the bottom of the seventh. On a 0-1 count, Soria hit a home run and Ottawa took the lead 13-4. In the bottom of the eighth, Pearson singled to right center and scored
Branden Franz to give the Braves a 14-4 victory.
Inside the Box Score
Game Two
York scored first, scoring two in the top of the first. Ottawa answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first. With
Cole Broughton on first,
Blaine Thomas hit a home run to tie the game 2-2.
In the bottom of the second, Ottawa took its first lead of the game. With two outs,
Anthony Soria tripled to right.
Tyler Farnham singled to left, scoring Soria and OU led 3-2.
The Panthers answered with two runs in the top of the third to take a 4-3 lead over the Braves. York extended its lead over the Braves with a run in the top of the fourth, 5-3. The Braves responded in the bottom of the fourth inning with seven runs.
The Braves scored all seven of their runs in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs.
Nicholas Sizemore and
Marcellus Pearson hit home runs in the inning and the Braves had a 10-5 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Braves increased their lead.
Cole Broughton doubled to right, scoring Farnham and OU had an 11-5 lead.
York rallied, scoring three runs in the top of the sixth and three in the seventh to tie the game at 11-11. In the top of the eighth, the Panthers took advantage of two Brave miscues and scored two runs to take a 13-11 lead. Ottawa tried to answer in the bottom half of the eighth. OU had two reach base but were not able to get them home and York took the 13-11 victory.
Inside the Box Score
Who is Next
Ottawa (23-20, 16-13) returns to the diamond on Tuesday, April 16 in Wichita, Kan. against Friends University. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
