WEATHERFORD, Okla. — After a five-run loss in Game 1 (9-14) to Southwestern Oklahoma State, Southern Nazarene turned it on in Game 2, only to fall by just a single run (9-10) in the final game of the doubleheader.
Game 1
The Bulldogs (8-12) controlled most of the way through, beginning their scoring with a homerun that earned them three runs in the first inning.
The Storm (2-19) put two on the board in the second after Cole Embrey's single got Peyton Vinyard and Tyler Broyles the score.
Southwestern went on a hitting the rest of the way, putting up 11 more runs before the Storm could make a trip across the plate.
EJ Taylor broke the cold with a single to center, giving Embrey the score while putting the Storm behind 3-14. Brian Brown stepped up to the plate to scrape away the deficit even more, hitting a bomb over the fence to send in Taylor and Colby Entwistle.
The Storm attempted their comeback in the ninth with Brown getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, sending Embrey in for the Storm's seventh score. Noah Ellis added to the board, doubling to center field to plate Taylor and Entwistle, and the Storm trailed by five runs.
The gap was just too large as SWOSU walked away with the 9-14 win in Game 1.
Brown led the offense with his four RBI's and 1-4 finish. Embrey had the hot bat as well, finishing 2-4 with two RBI's. Ellis also added in two RBI's, finishing 1-2 on the afternoon.
Taylor finished 3-5 that game with an RBI to his name as well.
The Storm had seven players appear on the mound that game, with Parker Presley seeing the most time with two full innings with five strikeouts and no runs allowed.
Game 2
SNU stormed out in front with DJ Van Atten's home run that gave the Crimson Storm their first two points on the board as Broyles made it home in process.
SWOSU scored two of their own to reach the first tie, but Van Atten silenced the Dawgs as he slugged another one over to left field in the fourth inning to send Broyles in once more. Entwistle's single would advance Drake Irby home. Taylor's sacrifice fly would give Embrey a trip across the plate to put the Storm up 6-2. SNU closed out that half of the inning with Brown's double plating Entwistle and Ellis' single sending in Brown home to take the game to 8-2.
The Bulldogs rallied from their 8-2 deficit to score seven runs to trail by one. Cole Embrey's single extended it to a two-run game after he scored Irby, but SWOSU's triple would tie the game at 9-9 at the bottom of the seventh.
In the extra inning, the Storm's offense was unable to answer, leaving the Bulldogs single with the bases loaded, claiming the 10-9 victory.
Van Atten was a force at the plate, tallying two home runs that evening along with four RBI's and a 2-4 finish.
Embrey, Entwistle, Brown, Ellis, Irby, Vinyard, Taylor, and Broyles each recorded an RBI for SNU.
Payne Maga pitched a total of five innings, recording five strikeouts on the Bulldogs.
Cobey Gorrell was on the mound for 2.1 innings, recording three strikeouts that evening.
The Storm will close out the series with SWOSU on Monday, March 14th with a single game starting at 1:00 p.m.
