Tribune/Steve Hanks
Embry-Riddle third baseman Colin Gray is unable to get the tag down as OCU’s Kirk Walker advances to third on Brent Weaver’s flyout in the seventh.
By MATT BANEY
OF THE TRIBUNE
If Oklahoma City is going to make its way from the losers’ bracket to a national championship, it will probably be a long, grinding slog.
And the Stars started the process appropriately enough, notching a workmanlike victory over scrappy Embry-Riddle on Tuesday afternoon.
OCU pounded 16 hits — all but three of which were singles — and gradually eased to an 11-6 win. Game 14 of the NAIA World Series drew 610 fans to Harris Field.
The Stars were coming off an epic 12-inning loss to Lewis-Clark State on Memorial Day. About 15 hours after that game went final, OCU was back at the ballpark, trying to keep its season alive.
The Stars smacked just one home run Tuesday — and that was only a solo shot by B.J. Wheeler to start the fifth — but they were able to spray singles with regularity. They mustered four-run postings in both the fifth and seventh, with the latter rally finally subduing the Eagles.
“I knew they would come to play today after last night,” OCU coach Denney Crabaugh said of his players. “They’re ready, they’re loose, they’re a confident bunch. And when you have confidence and you have trust, you know they’re going to come back and have a good ballgame.”
The Stars, 57-11, will take on Lee during today’s session. OCU has never played the Flames during Crabaugh’s 20-year reign.
For Embry-Riddle, its hot-and-cold Series appearance ends after two wins and two losses. The Eagles sustained a 19-0 thumping on opening night, then pieced together three surprisingly good performances.
Once again, the Florida teams was resilient in this game. Down 7-3 in its half of the sixth, ERAU got a two-out, three-run homer from Branden Roper-Hubbert to pull within one.
But the Stars answered immediately. Singles by David Mann, Landon Camp and Carey Crain loaded the bases to start the seventh. Wheeler and Kirk Walker then slashed RBI singles, and two more runs came home on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
The Eagles, 44-18, continued to threaten in the latter innings. With two runners on in the eighth, Roper-Hubbert launched a long drive to center, but the Stars’ Garrett Regan made a leaping catch at the wall.
“They’re a feisty bunch,” Crabaugh said of ERAU. “… I knew they would come out and go after it as hard as they could, and they did. It’s a credit to their coaching staff and their kids.”
But the Eagles couldn’t cope with the Stars’ clockwork offense. One of the primary cogs — in this game and throughout the season — was Walker, a freshman shortstop. He went 4-for-6, drove in two runs and scored once.
Walker entered the Series hitting .461 — a remarkably gaudy figure for a collegiate rookie.
“We have a great core of guys to work with, so that made it easy,” Walker said. “When you look out there, you’re surrounded by juniors and seniors. It makes it easier for a freshman.”
In their 9-5 loss to L-C on Monday night, the Stars smacked a number of drives late in the game that would have won it had they gone a bit further. How many of them looked like home runs?
“Quite a few of them,” Walker said. “But that’s just the way baseball is. You win some, you lose some, and you move on to the next day.”
