OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - The Southern Nazarene Baseball team began their 2021 campaign on Monday afternoon as they faced off against MIAA affiliate Northeastern State. With temperatures in the low 20s, the Crimson Storm (0-1, 0-0 GAC) went to battle in some of the harshest conditions, but failed to prevail as the Riverhawks (1-0, 0-0 MIAA) downed SNU 6-4. The second game of the doubleheader had to be canceled due to the inclement weather at the time.
Despite the final score not being in favor of Southern Nazarene, there were a lot of positives to take from the matchup as the Storm out-hit their opponent 8-6. SNU looked like a rejuvenated squad as transfers and freshman made notable appearances.
The season opener was neck-and-neck until the top of third when Northeastern State broke the seal with three runs. The Riverhawks would then score two more runs at the top of the fifth, setting the score a 5-0 going into the bottom of the fifth. SNU would make an attempt to turn the tide as a
Clay Lockett single into center field would bring in
Jarrett Phillips, giving the Storm their first score of the season. Shortly after, Eric Guiterrez would single into left field, sending
Elijah Brady in for a second score. Gutierrez would make his way around the diamond and across home plate when
Austin Glock reached first base on a error. Clay lockett would also be apart of this Glock RBI, bringing the score to 5-4.
However, NSU would extinguish the momentum of SNU as they went on to score in the eigth and beat the Storm 6-4.
Junior
Patrick Hine (0-1) would get the start on the bump for Southern Nazarene as he pitched a complete four innings, struck out two batters, and allowed three runs. Hine would be credited with the loss.
Adrian Flores would come in as relief and pitch two innings, allowing two runs.
Payne Maga rounded things off for SNU as he pitched for three innings, struck out five batters, and allowed just one run in freshman debut.
Clay Lockett led the way batting for the Crimson Storm as he finished 2-4, scored a run, and brought a batter in. Transfer
EJ Taylor had a positive appearance as he went 1-3 from the plate and made a number of plays defensively. Despite not registering a hit, redshirt-senior
Austin Glock would bring in two runs, noting the most RBIs by an SNU player on the day.
Eric Guiterrez would also bring in a run and score a run while going 1-5 from the plate. Other notables were
Elijah Brady and
Jarrett Phillips who both scored runs and finished 1-2 and 1-3, respectively.
Southern Nazarene will be back in action next week as they face another MIAA foe, the Central Oklahoma Bronchos. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 pm.
