Baseball Back In First

April 18, 2007

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State University put itself back in first place in the Lone Star Conference North baseball race with a doubleheader sweep of Northeastern State University Wednesday in Tahlequah. The Bulldogs beat NSU the first game 6-3 and blasted the Redmen 13-2 in the nightcap.

The wins were SWOSU’s 13th and 14th in the last 18 games and added another chapter to one of the more extraordinary turnarounds in recent memory. The Bulldogs are now 18-26 overall and 12-4 in the LSC North, one-half game ahead of defending champion Central Oklahoma. The two division leaders will meet in a critical three-game series Friday and Saturday in Weatherford.

Against Northeastern in the first game, SWOSU trailed 3-0 after five innings. The Bulldogs looked to be going nowhere managing just a handful of singles against starting pitcher Chris Bennett. The Bulldogs then erupted for a five-run sixth inning that was highlighted by Ryan Starzenski’s three-run homer putting the Bulldogs ahead 5-3.

SWOSU added another run in the seventh to lead 7-3. Reliever Kole Kennedy had his best outing of the year and picked up the win. He threw two and one-third innings of scoreless ball and allowing just one hit to improve to 2-3.

In the second game, SWOSU was hanging on to a 3-2 lead through five innings before again coming up with a big sixth inning. The Bulldogs scored a season-high 10 runs in the inning sending 15 batters to the plate. NSU used four different pitchers in the sixth, all of which had considerable control problems. A total of eight Bulldogs were issued a free pass either by a walk or being hit by a pitch.

Red-hot Mark Cole was the offensive star for the Bulldogs collecting three hits in four at bats and driving in five runs. Cole has watched his batting average soar over 200 points in the last month after starting the season in a dreadful slump collecting only two hits in his first 35 at bats (.057).

Ty Pool (4-6) earned the win throwing four complete innings and allowing just two runs. He got considerable help from reliever Brian Wortham who held NSU scoreless in the final three innings to pick up his third save.