WOODWARD, Okla. — Taking the lead early in the opening inning, Southern Nazarene Baseball never looked back as they secured their first road win of the season with a 17-11 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State.
The Storm (2-17, 0-9 GAC) erupted for a seven-run 4th inning that kept the Aggies (4-15, 0-3 SAC) from gaining any sort of lead. OPSU outscored the Storm 8-1 in the following three innings to cut the lead down to just two runs at 13-11. SNU refused an Aggie comeback, capping off the contest with four runs of their own to finish with the 17-11 win.
The Storm's offensive star Brian Brown opened up the onslaught with a double that plated EJ Taylor, Colby Entwistle and Cole Embrey. With Brown on base, Tyler Broyles singed up the middle, getting Brown the score and the Storm held an early 4-0 lead.
Panhandle State snuck in two runs in the bottom half of the 1st to trail the Storm by two. Peyton Vinyard's single to short stop would plate Drake Irby in the third, but OPSU hit a bomb over the fence, moving the score to 5-3.
The Storm's offensive exploded in the 4th with Brown kick starting the onslaught as he singled to right field plating Taylor and Entwistle again. Irby gave Broyles and Brown the trip home with his single while Jonathan Crist's single would plate Irby and Jake Schow, putting the storm up 12-3 over the Aggies.
OPSU put up five runs on the board in the next three innings while SNU his an offensive stall, leaving the Aggies to trail 12-8.
Irby gained some offensive momentum back for thr Storm, getting his sacrifice fly to plate Weston Hicks. OPSU made two more trips across the, making it a two-run game at 13-11.
The 9th inning was all Crimson as an Aggie error and off target pitch would eventually plate Embrey and Enwistle to put the Storm up 15-11. Closing out the game, Noah Ellis doubled to score Brown and Taylor, awarding SNU the 17-11 victory over Panhandle State.
Brown led the offense, going 2-5 at the plate, totaling five RBI's and three runs. Irby put up two RBI's himself, finishing 1-4 along with two runs. Ellis also Crist also had two RBI's a piece with a 1-1 and 1-4 finish respectively.
Taylor went 2-3 at bat, getting tree runs and an RBI on the board. Vinyard and Broyles each finished with an RBI, finishing 1-2 and 1-3 respectively.
Hutch Underwood started on the mound, pitching for a total of 5.2 innings and tallying three strikeouts. Kasen Jackson, Patrick Hine, and Cobey Gorrell combined for 3.1 innings in relief and three strikeouts.
The Storm stay on the road for their next three matchups as they head to Weatherford, Oklahoma to go head-to-head with Southwestern Oklahoma State. The Storm suit up for a single game Friday March 11th at 2:00 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday March 12th beginning at noon.
