Baseball Wins NSU Series
March 21, 2009
WEATHERFORD, Okla. - Southwestern Oklahoma State University picked up three important wins against Northeastern State University to win the weekend baseball series 3-1. The Bulldogs were 8-5 winners in the first game on Friday and followed it up with a 13-9 win in game two. SWOSU lost the third game, 19-2, only to bounce back and take game four by a 12-3 margin.
The Bulldogs are now 19-13 overall and 13-11 in the Lone Star Conference. SWOSU is currently fifth in the league standings and have a critical four-game set with Southeastern Oklahoma State University beginning Friday in Durant. Southeastern is just one game back of the Bulldogs and in a sixth-place tie with Eastern New Mexico at 11-11.
In game one, Aldemar Betrian was dominating in his first start. He struck out 10 NSU batters through five innings to pick up his second win of the season. Relievers Rafe Alvarez and Ty Pool finished the ballgame.
Travis Rose, who finished the series with five home runs, hit two in the opener. His second was a three-run blast in the sixth inning that put the Bulldogs in front 8-5 after the RiverHawks had drawn even at 5-5.
In the second game, back-to-back home runs by Morgan Marr and Bow Buckner were the big hits in a three-run fifth inning that broke open a 7-7 tie. Both Marr and Buckner had three hits apiece as well as did teammate Alex Pagan. All total, the Bulldogs rattled seven NSU pitchers for 16 hits.
Max Grocki picked up his second win of the season as he pitched four-plus innings in relief. He allowed just three runs before giving way to Pool and Kevin Hyde to close the game.
In game three, SWOSU was handled by NSU pitcher Jacob Lago who allowed only four SWOSU hits and gave up just two runs in a 19-2 victory.
In the finale, SWOSU ace Chris Morrison went the distance for his second consecutive win. Morrison allowed just seven hits and two earned runs over nine innings of work. He struck out nine batters and walked just two to improve his record to 3-2 on the year.
SWOSU held a slim 5-3 lead through seven innings before breaking out with a seven-run eighth inning. The Bulldogs strung together four consecutive hits in the inning highlighted by doubles by Ricky Kirby, Nelson Espinal and Ryan Salsbury. Again, Rose was the big hitter of the inning blasting his second homer of the game and his 10th of the season in the eighth inning.