CLAREMORE, Okla. — In its final nonconference games of the 2016 season, Southern Nazarene managed a split with Rogers State as it won the first game 5-4 in 10 innings before falling 13-4 in the finale.
 
After scoring the first runs of the game in six of their previous seven games, the Crimson Storm (8-31) fell behind early in the opener. The Hillcats scored a run in the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead.
 
SNU was quick to bounce back, as the Storm tied the game with a Tyler Stevens home run in the top of the second to pull even. SNU took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth when Josh Matelsky hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Austin Cooper.
 
Rogers State wasted no time fighting back, as the Hillcats used a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. The back-and-forth scoring continued in the fifth as Southern Nazarene added two more runs in the frame. The first run came across when Easton Rodgers scored on a balk, then Anthony Wiggins singled to center field to score Shelby Reese.
 
RSU pulled even in the bottom of the inning with an RBI ground out, tying the game at 5-5. The score remained there until the top of the 10^th inning, when Matelsky drove in his second run of the game on a ground out to shortstop to score Cooper.
 
Cooper (2-2) got the win on the mound for Southern Nazarene, as he pitched four shutout innings of relief while giving up four hits and striking out four. Wiggins got the start on the bump, giving up just one run over three innings on three hits. Wiggins also led the Storm at the plate in game one, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Cooper and Rodgers each added two-hit games for SNU.
 
The Crimson Storm weren't so lucky in game two, as Rogers took advantage of 14 hits and five SNU walks. Southern Nazarene actually held a 3-1 in the top of the third inning thanks to a 3-run home run by Stevens, but the lead didn't last long. Rogers State went on to score the next 11 runs of the game to take a commanding 12-3 lead. Ryan Tucker tried to get the Storm back into it with a single in the sixth inning to score Reagan Yates, but that was as close as SNU would get.
 
Jefferson Harris (0-1) made the first start of his college career in the nightcap, going three innings and giving up five runs on six hits while striking out two. No SNU player had a multi-hit game in the finale, with the Crimson Storm as a whole registering just six hits.