Box Score

BETHANY, Okla. — As long as there's still innings to be played Southern Nazarene showed it will fight through all of them after SNU rallied from facing a run rule to nearly catching No. 1 Oklahoma City in a 12-11 loss.
 
The Crimson Storm (6-13, 3-5 SAC) trailed 12-3 through five innings, but rallied back with one in the sixth, six in the seventh and one in the ninth to cut it to one, but OCU survived a scare to hold off SNU.
 
John Basnight had perfect day going 5-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored while Tyler De Trinidad was right behind at 4-for-5 with a run scored. The top half of the lineup had eight of the Storm's 19 hits and drove in eight of the 11 runs. James Tunnell and Jacob Inbody both drove in a pair of runs and scored two as well. Tunnell was 2-for-6 while Inbody went 3-for-4. Ryan Williams went 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored and Nate Saquilon went 1-for-5 with three RBIS.
 
Chris Eastham (2-2) took the loss after going the first five innings before giving way to Tim Cole who threw the final four innings. Cole helped lead the charge back into the game as he gave up just three runs on three hits in four innings of work. He also fanned four.
 
 
Oklahoma City struck first in the top of the first with a two-run shot to left field, but SNU answered in the bottom half of the inning when James Tunnell scored from third on a double play to make it 2-1. The Stars added another in the top of the second, but SNU matched it when Tunnell ripped a bases-loaded single to right to score John Basnight to make it 3-2.
 
Basnight then lifted a mammoth shot to left center in the bottom of the third to tie it at 3-3.
 
OCU broke the game open though in the fifth with a six-run inning to lead 9-3 and added three more in the sixth to lead 12-3.
 
The Storm got one back in the sixth when Nate Saquilon hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 12-4 before SNU erupted for six in the bottom of the seventh. Morrow got it started with an RBI double to left field to make it 12-5. Tunnell forced an OCU error to drive in the second run of the inning before Inbody and Williams ripped back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 12-8. Saquilon then cleared the bases with his sixth home run of the year to cut it to 12-10.
 
The Storm held OCU scoreless in the final three innings and SNU got within one when Inbody led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo shot to left to cut it to 12-11, but Patrick Goelz recorded his second save of the year as he struck out two of the final three batters to secure the win for OCU.
 
SNU will now host Central Oklahoma, Thursday, for a 2:30 p.m. contest.