MOUNTAINEER BASEBALL

Story by Aric Thomas
(4-23-07)

Eastern Almost Rallies for Two Wins against 15th Ranked Connors – Instead They Earn a Split

The Eastern Oklahoma State College (27-19 / 6-10) split with 15th ranked Connors State College on Sunday.  A 4-run rally in the bottom of the 7th inning gave the Mountaineers a 6-5 victory in game one.  In game two, Eastern rallied in the final frame again.  They scored one and had two men on base as the game ended in an 8-7 loss.

In game one, Wes Pool set the tone for Eastern on the mound.  Making his first start of the year, Pool tossed 5 2/3 innings while allowing just five hits and three earned runs.  Derek Kiker (3-0) came on for the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up the win.  The Mountaineers four run rally in the final frame started with one out and Colby Gibson and Chad Price were hit by pitches.  Kyle Price stepped to the plate and singled to left to load the bases.  Carey Crain then reached base on an error by the first baseman.  With the bases still loaded, pinch hitter Gunner Glad singled to left and moved all the base runners up one base.  Finally Steve Irvine stepped to the plate and doubled to left center field scoring Price and pinch runner Bo O’Dell.  Crain, Irvine and Gibson each had two hits to lead the Mountaineer offense.

In game two, Eastern was trailing 6-2 after 4 ½ innings.  They rallied for one in the 5th and two in the 6th before Connors answered back with two in the 8th.  With the score 8-5, the Mountaineers rallied for two more in the 8th and one in the 9th and fell just one run short 8-7.  Carey Crain (4-2) took the loss on the mound.  Offensively, Casey Gibson led the way by going 3-5 with two home runs, a double, two runs scored and three RBI’s.  Kyle Price and Ryan Davis both went 2-4.

For the series against Connors, the two teams split the four games.  Offensively, Kyle Price led the Mountaineers in batting .533.  He was 8-15 with four doubles, four runs scored and four stolen bases.  Dearth Parker also was hot in the series and batted .500 (4-8) with two runs, a double and a home run.  Chance Deason was Eastern’s best pitcher in the series.  He picked up a win in 8 1/3 innings of work.  He didn’t allow an earned run and he added 10 strikeouts.