Oklahoma City misses scoring chances and loses its center fielder to broken leg, but beats Southern Poly with late four-run outburst
OF THE TRIBUNE
There were no less than five occasions when budding Oklahoma City rallies were suddenly spoiled by mistakes or strange twists of fate. And in the seventh, the Stars’ center fielder/leadoff man was sent to the hospital with a broken leg.
Yet OCU persevered. And in the 10th, a three-run homer from Kirk Walker busted open a deadlocked battle and propelled the Stars to an 8-4 win over Southern Polytechnic on Tuesday afternoon at Harris Field.
The second-seeded Stars earned at least one more day in the NAIA World Series with the elimination victory. They’ll take on Lubbock Christian, a fellow Sooner Athletic Conference club, this afternoon at 3.
OCU will be without Sammy Lee, a senior outfielder who broke both bones in his lower left leg when he collided with teammate Jason Machado as they gave chase to a fly ball.
Lee was attended to on the field for about 10 minutes, and was then taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, where he had surgery on the leg. He was listed in fair condition by the hospital Tuesday evening.
That was the most sour turn for the Stars in this game, but it wasn’t their only adversity. They had two men on base three times in the latter innings, yet got nothing out of those chances.
“Golly, we kept making some mistakes — base-running mistakes, and running ourselves out of innings,” OCU coach Denney Crabaugh said. “It’s stuff that we hadn’t been doing all year.
“But you know if you keep putting the pressure on, sooner or later something good was going to happen. The odds were with us.”
Brandon Moss led off the 10th with a double, but then was caught trying to advance to third on a bunt by Landon Camp.
Nevertheless, the Stars scratched out another threat. David Mann cracked a single, and Walker, the No. 9 hitter, followed with his three-run blast to right-center. Machado later plated another run with a single.
The Stars, 53-8, had gone scoreless over five innings, but erupted for five hits during the 10th.
“Every person contributes to this team, and Kirk prevailed today,” Machado said. “He hit that bomb, and that just teed us off. We just started stringing those hits together.”
Southern Poly, which ends the season at 53-10, committed a pair of errors in the first that led to two OCU runs. The Hornets rallied behind Daniel Hester’s two-run homer in the third, but went down in order in the eighth, ninth and 10th.
But the sequence the 905 fans in attendance will remember is the play that led to Lee’s broken leg.
On a drive smacked by Hester to right-center, Lee and Machado, playing in right, converged on the ball. It was Machado’s knee that bashed into Lee’s shin.
Machado said his glove tipped the ball, yet Lee somehow made the catch. The senior from Ninnekah, Okla., even tossed the ball to Machado, in order to prevent a runner at first from advancing.
“That’s Sammy Lee right there: He’s got so much heart, and he’s so aware of the game,” Machado said. “He’s such a strong person. We’re going to win this tournament for him.”
OKLAHOMA CITY SOUTHERN POLY
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Lee cf 4 0 1 0 Barrow 2b 4 1 1 0
Carman c 2 0 1 0 Waugh ss 3 1 2 0
Fisher pr 0 1 0 0 Grooms cf 5 0 1 1
Vitale dh 6 0 1 1 Hester dh 4 1 1 2
Weaver 1b 5 1 1 0 Heller lf 5 1 1 0
Wheeler 3b 4 1 1 0 Oliver 1b 4 0 1 0
Machado cf 4 1 1 1 Hoffer rf 2 0 0 0
Moss rf 6 0 4 2 Ray c 3 0 0 0
Grellner rf 0 0 0 0 Jones ph 1 0 0 1
Camp 2b 5 1 1 0 Wilson 3b 3 0 0 0
Mann lf 5 1 1 0 Fleming ph 1 0 0 0
Walker ss 4 2 3 3
Totals 45 8 15 8 Totals 35 4 7 4
Oklahoma City 201 100 000 4—8 15 0
Southern Poly 002 001 100 0—4 7 3
Oklahoma City ip h r er bb so
Odquist 6.0 6 4 4 3 4
Bryant 2.0 1 0 0 0 2
Williams (W, 5-1) 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
Southern Poly ip h r er bb so
Nordquist 5.0 8 4 2 3 3
Carder 3.1 0 0 0 1 2
Teague (L, 8-2) 1.1 7 4 4 1 0
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Baney may be reached at mbaney@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2258.
Oklahoma City 8
Southern Poly 4
> STARS OF THE GAMEThe Stars had gone 23 consecutive innings without a home run, but KIRK WALKER changed that in the 10th. The shortstop’s three-run jack broke a 4-4 tie and propelled OCU to victory.
OCU outfielder SAMMY LEE has to be considered a star for making a lunging catch in the seventh on a play in which he broke his leg.
Southern Poly’s DANIEL HESTER lashed his second homer of the Series — a two-run shot in the third.
> HE MUST DRINK COKE
In the seventh, the Hornets’ Josh Grooms nailed a wayward foul ball that plunked the huge inflated Pepsi bottle on the left wing of Harris Field. After a few moments, the bottle toppled to the ground and stayed down the rest of the day. Grooms ended the at-bat with a run-scoring single.
> QUOTE OF NOTE
“We went out and won the ballgame, and that’s all that matters. There’s no such thing as a bad win in this tournament.”— OCU coach DENNEY CRABAUGH
