Bison Open Baseball Season with Sweep of Hillsdale

After opening 2007 with eight straight losses, Oklahoma Baptist began the 2008 season with a pair of easy wins over Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College Saturday, 15-5 and 10-0.

Both games were shortened by the run-rule.

The pitching was strong, allowing just one earned run, while the bats were successful for 27 hits in the two games.

"We played well," said Bison head coach Bobby Cox. "We didn't play as well as I would have liked on defense, but those things are correctible. We swung it well and our pitchers did a good job."

OBU scored the first seven runs in the first turn at the plate of the season. Chris Chambers got the first RBI of the season when his sacrifice fly ball was dropped by the right fielder in a collision with the second baseman.

Keith Johnson had an RBI single, Christian Ruiz had an RBI ground out, Frank Avilla had an RBI single, Josh Kirkpatrick drove home a run with a triple and Billy Thomas had an RBI double.

Johnson had an RBI ground out in the second for an 8-0 lead.

The Saints posted three runs, two unearned, on three hits and three errors in the top of the third. OBU answered with two in the bottom of the third with a sacrifice fly by Thomas and an RBI single by Josh Collazo.

Hillsdale scored two in the fifth on a hit and two errors.

The Bison added three runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Mason Reilly, an RBI ground out by Collazo and a run-scoring single by Chambers.

OBU ended the game with RBI singles by Thomas and Reilly.

Brent Robison (1-0) got the pitching win with five innings of work, allowing all five runs, but only one earned, to go with five strikeouts.

Kirkpatrick was 4-of-4 on the game, while Kyle Cooper and Avilla had three hits each while Thomas, Reilly, Chambers and Johnson had two each in OBU's 19-hit attack.

In the second game, Chase Jestice (1-0), Jordan McCavitt and Derek Edwards combined for a one-hit shutout. The lone Saints hit came in the third inning off Jestice.

OBU got up 1-0 in the first when Thomas doubled, moved to third on Cooper's fly to right and scored on a ground out by Reilly.

The Bison added five in the second inning with an RBI walk to Avilla, an RBI hit by pitch taken by Cody Lambeth, a sac fly by Thomas, an RBI ground out by Cooper and a run-scoring double by Reilly.

Lambeth homered to right for a 7-0 lead in the fourth.

An RBI double by Ruiz and a sacrifice fly by Avilla in the bottom of the fifth ended the game on the run rule.

Chambers and Ruiz had two hits each in an eight-hit attack.

OBU, now 2-0, will play at Hillsdale Monday. That game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but moved up because of the possibility of bad weather.