Photo by Jean St. Fleur

Oklahoma City – The Central Christian College baseball wrapped up the season this past weekend with a road trip to Oklahoma City to take on the Oklahoma City University Stars, who were just out of the top 25 receiving votes in the latest NAIA coaches poll. The weekend got off to a disastrous start, but the Tigers bounced back and made the series interesting in the final two games.

Game 1: L, 19-1

Game one got out of hand quickly for the Tigers. After holding the Stars to just one run in the first inning, the home team exploded for nine runs in the second to blow the game open. They added another nine spot in the fourth inning giving them 19 for the game. The lone Tiger run came in the sixth when Carlos Gusman scored on a ground ball to the right side of the infield off the bat of Alejandro Pina.

Hitting: The Tigers scored their one run on five hits, that included a double from Chris Escamilla.

Pitching: Four different Tigers saw action from the mound against the Stars in game one. Levi Atherton got the start and worked the first inning and two-thirds surrendering 10 runs on eight hits with a strikeout and three walks. Colt Gniech, Dominic Terrones, and Cole Hancock all saw action out of the bull pen. Hancock had the most success going two and a third and holding the Stars scoreless and hitless with three strikeouts.

Leaders

Hits:                             Five Tigers (1)

Doubles:                     Chris Escamilla (1)

Triples:                        none

Homeruns:                 none

RBI:                             Alejandro Pina (1)

Stolen Bases:              Joseph Gusman (1)

Strikeouts Pitching:   Cole Hancock (3)

Put Outs:                    Chris Escamilla (7)

Assists:                        Carlos Gusman (3)

Game 2: L, 5-4
 
The Tigers began to find their groove midway through game two on Saturday. The game was scoreless through the first three innings but then the Tigers found the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a two run home run from Cam Whittle. They added two more in the top of the fifth the first on an RBI double by Carlos Gusman and the other on a sacrifice fly by Escamilla. Unfortunately, the Stars found their form again in the bottom of the sixth. They tied the game with four runs, then walked it off in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Hitting: The Tigers scored their four runs on seven hits, highlighted by Whittle's homerun.

Pitching: Peyton Ramsey got the start for the Tigers on the mound and pitched a gem. He went five and a third allowing four runs on five hits with four strikeouts.

Leaders

Hits:                             Jose Esparza, Noel Aquino (2)

Doubles:                     Carlos Gusman, Jose Esparza (1)

Triples:                        none

Homeruns:                 Cam Whittle (1)

RBI:                             Cam Whittle (2)

Stolen Bases:              none

Strikeouts Pitching:   Peyton Ramsey (4)

Put Outs:                    Jayden Leonhardt (6)

Assists:                        Jose Esparza (3)

Game 3: W, 7-5
 
After the first inning in game three, it appeared like the Stars were going to run away with the game and complete the series sweep. They came out and put up five runs in the bottom of the first. As it would turn out, that would be the last time they found the scoring column the rest of the way. The Tigers refused to fold, and slowly began to battle back. They found the scoreboard in the top of the fourth when Esparza scored on an errant throw to third base on a stolen base attempt.
 
In the top of the seventh, they tied the game with four runs on from a pair of doubles by Jayden Leonhardt and Julius Sifuentes and singles by Esparza and Gusman. In the ninth, Gusman came through again with a two RBI single that scored Sifuentes and Carlos Perez giving the Tigers the lead. From there they got a 123 inning from the defense to secure the victory.
 
Hitting: The Tigers scored their seven runs on 11 hits. Three of the 11 hits went for extra bases, all doubles.

Pitching: Four Tigers saw action on the mound in game three highlighted by four scoreless innings from Brandon Vegas out of the pen that included four strikeouts, and three scoreless innings from Cole Hancock down the stretch to close the game out.

Leaders

Hits:                             Jose Esparza (3)

Doubles:                     Jayden Leonhardt, Julius Sifuentes, Jose Esparza (1)

Triples:                        none

Homeruns:                 none

RBI:                             Julius Sifuentes, Carlos Gusman (2)

Stolen Bases:              none

Strikeouts Pitching:   Brandon Vegas (4)

Put Outs:                    Jayden Leonhardt (8)

Assists:                        Jose Esparza (5)

Coach Quote: "I am proud of how our guys competed against such a historic program. These guys played exactly how we have talked & worked all season. Good fundamental baseball. We very well could have won the series. Peyton Ramsey threw magnificently in game 2. Getting ahead of hitters and keeping them off balance. Brandon Vegas threw 4 top tier relief innings to put us in a position to win game 3. Freshman Cole Hancock pitched to his capabilities going 2.1 innings of relief and getting the win. Offensively we relied on our strengths of out singling them. We kept the pressure on with base hits instead of trying to rely on the home run.
Carlos Gusman came in clutch with a big 2-out 2RBI single in the 9th and some big time defensive plays throughout the game.
 
It was great to see all the seniors involved in that last game and inning. Julius Sifuentes hit a 2rbi double to tie the game and then caught the first out of the bottom 9th. Carlos Perez had a single and scored the go ahead run in the 9th plus he was part of the game ending double play. Alejandro Piña caught the final out of the ball game. It was just really cool to see."  – Coach Stephen McNett