SWING, SWAT AND SWOOP: OKWU baseball sweeps 1st foe
Now, this is the way to start a baseball season.
Back-to-back shutouts, a total of 34 runs scored and 3-0 record.
Needless to say the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles could not have written a better Act I to the season, as they took on Ecclesia College at Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium.
To no one’s surprise, Kellen Brothers (Gridley, Calif.) drew the opening day pitching start and responded with four sparkling shutout innings, giving up two hits, walking one and whiffing three.
In Game 2, OKWU blew away their Arkansas visitor, 14-0. In the series finale, OKWU muscled out a 10-5 win.
Next up, OKWU is slated to play host next weekend (Friday and Saturday) to Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.).
The Eagles are coached by Kirk Kelley, who is in his seventh season as the team’s skipper. He guided the 2021 team to the NAIA World Series.
Following are summaries from last weekend.
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OKWU 10, ECCESIA 0
Brothers is back for his third season with the Eagles and coming off two superior campaigns. This year could be his best.
He did throw a lot of pitches (55) for four innings — but 39 of them were strikes.
Erick Nova and Matthew Atencio both threw in relief. Atencio hurled a near perfect inning as closer.
The Eagle offense combined power, speed and a ball-blasting display from the middle of the bottom of the order.
Eight-hole hitter Aaron Gerdes finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle — he belted a homer and a double, two singles, scored three times and plated four runs.
Seven-hole slugger Nicholas Chavez added a homer and two RBIs.
Other main contributors included Dane Fraser with two RBIs and Tommy Davis with three runs scored.
Davis and Gerdes also each stole two bases.
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OKWU 14, ECCLESIA 0
A seven-run first inning set the stage.
Meanwhile, Eagle starting pitcher Evan Foor clocked in with a shark-ish first game effort — four innings with only 42 pitches (25 strikes), two hits allowed, one walk and three strikeouts.
Tyler Benefiel and Klayton Coffman both worked in relief.
On the offensive side, eight different players contributed RBIs — including Drenis Ozuna, who turned in a monstrous season back in 2019 (.437, 13 doubles, 22 homers, 78 RBIs, .844 slugging percentage and 37 walks, but didn’t play in the 2020, 2021 or 2022 seasons. In this game, he singled and drove in two runs while batting in the two-hole.
josh Logan, Jordyn Smith, Jesus Rojas and Marcus Randall each homered. Smith and Randall both drove in three runs.
Dane Fraser added a double and RBI.
OKWU’s massive first-inning script began with some drama — the first two batters grounded out. Three-hole hitter A’Darius Council then drew a walk — an innocent way to start a seven-run explosion.
Logan came up next and also walked to set the state for Smith. He crushed a homer to bring home the first three runs. Other big plays in the inning included a bases-loaded walk to Chavez, a bases-loaded walk to Hector Manon and a two-run safety by Ozuna.
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OKWU 10, ECCLESIA 5
For the third-straight game, OKWU enjoyed a great starting pitching outing, this time by M. Mendoza. He worked four innings, gave up one run, allowed a walk and fanned six batters. Cade McCollum and Carson Frazier each climbed the hill in relief.
Once again, the offense delivered with the determination of a pizza driver trying to make up lost time from a traffic jam.
For the third-straight game the Eagles produced multiple homers (one each by Ozuna and Manon) and a double (Council). Smith ripped the team’s first triple of the season.
Ozuna and Noah Adams drove in three and two runs, respectively.
Gerdes, Logan, Smith, Adams and Manon each lashed two hits.
Although the margin was narrower, the Eagles had little about which to worry — they led 9-1 after two innings and added a run in the third. Ecclesia scored its final four runs in the top of the final inning.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Oklahoma Wesleyan University baseball team opens season
