LEWISTON, Idaho - No one has been able to get the best of Oklahoma City University left-hander Tyler Kelsey all season. And nothing changed on Saturday evening, as the Edmond native took the mound in the NAIA World Series.
Kelsey shut down the Spring Arbor (Mich.) hitters and got plenty of support from his teammates, as the Stars cruised to a 10-2 win. The OCU defense turned three double plays, and the Stars batters who pounded out 10 runs on 13 hits in the victory.
“I just went out and did what I’ve done all year long,” Kelsey said. “I just stuck with the game plan, and we had three double plays which helped.”
With the win the Stars (56-10) stay in the winners bracket and play defending national champion and the tournament host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) College (54-6) on Monday at 9 p.m. Central Time.
“It’s been awesome so far, and everything I’ve been dreaming about for a while,” OCU first baseman and former Edmond North star Landon Camp said. “It’s nice to be in drivers seat and play Lewis-Clark, the home team. That will be a very fun game, we’ll have fans screaming at us.”
OCU, which is second in the country in runs scored per game at over 10, knocked around Spring Arbor starter Colin O’Connell for seven runs in the fifth inning to blow the game open. Already leading 2-0, the Stars chased O’Connell after an RBI-double by Caleb Annesley. Spring Arbor committed two errors, which led to five unearned tallies. When the dust cleared, OCU sent 11 batters to the plate and totaled five hits including two doubles.
Kelsey cruised into the seventh as he allowed three harmless singles, one each in the first, third and sixth innings. Each of those base runners was wiped out on double-plays.
Kelsey ran into a small bind in the seventh when Bradley Baker doubled to left-center setting the table for the top hitter in the country, Jim Baker. He took the first pitch he saw from Kelsey and laced an RBI-single to left, which was his first hit of the World Series – he was 0-for-5 before that hit.
OCU coach Denney Crabaugh then brought in reliever Zac Coplon. SAU made the score 9-2 after Jonathan Herbig drove in Bradley Baker on a sacrifice fly. The Stars scored the game’s final run off an RBI-double from David Dennis.
Kelsey improved his perfect record to 10-0 on the year. The former Santa Fe star lasted 6.0 innings allowing two runs on six hits and struck out two.
Camp finished the game 1-for-5 at the plate.
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