EDMOND —
Central Oklahoma continued its home dominance Tuesday afternoon at Wendell Simmons Field with a doubleheader sweep of non-conference rival Arlington Baptist.
The Bronchos rolled to an easy 8-1 rout in the opener and then survived some anxious moments in the nightcap before nailing down a 4-3 victory for their 11th consecutive home win.
UCO improved to 15-6 with the sweep and goes to Springfield, Mo. Thursday to take on Drury in a single non-conference game before moving on to St. Joseph, Mo. this weekend for a three-game Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association series with Missouri Western.
The Bronchos had just two hits through four innings of the first game, but took advantage of five errors to score five unearned runs in that span in taking a 5-1 lead.
Tyler Crabtree gave the Bronchos a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when he led off with a double and scored on back-to-back fielding miscues, with Dilon Argo reaching on an error in the second before eventually coming around to make it 2-0 on Cesar Wong’s sacrifice bunt.
The Patriots scored their lone run in the top of the third, but UCO took control with three more unearned runs in the fourth. Ryan Stoup reached on an error and ended up scoring on a double steal, while Matt Johnson ripped a two-run double to left-center field.
The Bronchos made it 6-1 in the fifth on Wong’s RBI single and wrapped up the scoring in the seventh on run-scoring base hits by Jared Wright and Ross Rose.
Johnson and Stoup had two hits apiece to lead a nine-hit attack.
Jamie McClure earned the pitching win, starting and giving up six hits and one run while striking out eight in going the first five innings before three relievers finished the game.
UCO jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings of the nightcap, getting a two-run double from Johnson in the first before adding a run-scoring sacrifice bunt by Cameron Mavroulis and RBI single by Crabtree in the second.
The Patriots pushed across two runs in the fifth to make it 4-2 and added another run in the seventh before reliever Ethan Sharp closed the game out. Sharp came on in the fifth to get the final out and went the rest of the way to earn his second save, giving up one hit and one run in 2 1/3 innings.
Will Kilpatrick started and went the first 4 2/3 innings to pick up the win, striking out four.
Crabtree, Robbie Hoffman and Matt Malloy had two hits each for the Bronchos.
WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Central Oklahoma had a trio of players shoot in the 70s en route to a runner-up finish in the Midwestern State Invitational here Tuesday.
The Bronchos shot a second consecutive 316 to finish two trips around the wind-blown Wichita Falls Country Club with a 632 total, coming in nine strokes behind Midwestern State in the 18-team event.
Senior Erica Bensch led UCO once again, following up an opening-round 76 with a closing 77 for a 153 total that left her fifth in the individual standings.
Taylor Neidy had a final-round 78 and Aly Seng shot 79, while the Bronchos also got an 82 from Tressa Brumley and an 86 from Katie Bensch. Lindsey Bensch shot 81 playing as
an individual.
“We didn’t play our best, but It was pretty tough out there today with the wind,” head coach Michael Bond said. “Erica was solid both days and had a good tournament for us.”
UCO goes to St. Joseph, Mo. next Monday and Tuesday for the Missouri Western Invitational.
