Aggies win to set up LSC North showdown
UPDATED STATISTICS»
WEATHERFORD, Okla. (April 26) - This year's Lone Star Conference North Division baseball title will be decided at Cameron's McCord Field.
Coach Todd Holland's Aggies made sure of that Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader at Southwestern Oklahoma to enter the final three games of the regular season tied atop the league standings with Central Oklahoma. Cameron will host UCO in a three-game set beginning Saturday.
Cameron won by scores of 13-3 and 6-3 over the Bulldogs, improving to 32-19 overall and 17-5 in divisional play. UCO, meanwhile, topped Northeastern State in doubleheader action Wednesday in Tahlequah to equal Cameron's league mark.
Southwestern (20-30, 5-17) jumped out to a 2-0 in Wednesday's opener, capitalizing on a Cameron error in the first at-bat of the bottom of the first inning with two ensuing RBI singles.
Cameron cut the lead in half on back-to-back doubles by Greg Patton and Josh Mathiesen in the third and took the lead on John Herbert's two-run single in the fourth.
The Aggies added four more runs on five hits and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the fifth. Southwestestern got back on the board with a run in the bottom half of the inning, but Cameron broke the game open with a six-run effort in the sixth, capped by Mathiesen's two-run single.
Kacy Groves collected his seventh win of the season on the mound, striking out three and allowing just five hits in five innings of work before yielding the final two innings to Aggie reliever Danny Lee.
Cameron held the early lead in Wednesday's nightcap, but trailed once again to the Bulldogs midway through the game. The Aggies picked up an RBI single by Matt Machinski in the second inning and went up 2-0 on B.J. Cole's sacrifice fly in the third. But Southwestern plated three runs in the bottom half of the third, scoring two runs on a two-out Cameron error to take a 3-2 lead.
The lead proved to be short-lived, however, as Cameron tallied the final four runs of the game to earn the victory. The Aggies scored on an SWOSU miscue before Cole added his second sacrifice fly of the game and Herbert laced an RBI single in the fifth. Machinski then added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly an inning later.
Ryan Totte (6-2) won his fourth straight decision with a five-inning effort on the mound. Totte struck out four and allowed just one earned run. L.J. Willis and Ryan Bengert each tossed one hitless inning to finish up, with Bengert earning his sixth save of the year.
Action between Cameron and UCO at McCord Field Saturday will begin at 2 p.m. The teams will conclude the regular season on Sunday in a nine-inning contest scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Cameron's 10 senior players will be honored in Senior Day activities prior to Sunday's first pitch.
