OKLAHOMA CITY — Head coach
Robert Lee picked up his 100
th career win and Southern Nazarene snapped an 11-game skid with a 5-3 victory on Tuesday afternoon against Mid-America Christian.
The Crimson Storm got their bats going early on, and got some solid pitching from their starter
Tyler Thompson. At the plate, senior
Shelby Reese had himself a day as he finished 3-for-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored. Reese was one of three Storm hitters to record at least two hits as
Jack Campbell and
Connor Dayton each tallied two base knocks. Campbell went 2-for-4 with an RBI while Dayton also went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
Cole Lee finished 1-for-4 at the dish for SNU while
Tanner Ladon also went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Cobi Ceron also recorded a hit in the game and scored one run as well.
Ryan Mills and
Zach Birkle each provided two innings in relief for Thompson as Mills struck out one while Birkle retired two MACU batters and earned his first save of the season.
Southern Nazarene wasted no time in getting on the board as the Crimson Storm pushed a couple of runs across the plate in the top of the first to take the early lead. Reese's single scored
Garrett Perez and Dayton reached on a fielder's choice that scored Reese to make it 2-0.
After a couple of scoreless innings on both sides, the Storm extended their lead in the top of the fourth when Ladon's double scored Dayton to make it 3-0. The Evangels finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with one run to cut it to 3-1.
SNU added another run in the top of the seventh when Campbell's single scored Reese to bump the Storm lead to 4-1, before MACU threatened SNU with two runs to make it 4-3 heading into the final two innings.
The Evangels left three runners in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth before Southern Nazarene added an insurance run in the top of the ninth courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Reese to score Ceron to make it 5-3. MACU couldn't get anything going in the bottom of the ninth as SNU picked up their fifth victory of the season.
Southern Nazarene will hit the road again this weekend, as they travel to Searcy, Arkansas for a three-game series against Harding. The first game of that series is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m.
