Baseball
Eighth Inning Bomb Ends Season

PLAINVIEW – After coming from behind three times, the University of Science and Arts’ season came to an end 16-15 in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament after the team surrendered a two-out, two-run home run by Oklahoma Baptist’s Billy Thomas.

The Drovers fell behind 3-0 but scored two in the third and one in the fourth to tie the game. OBU answered with four runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-3 lead.

With their backs against the wall in an elimination game, USAO put together one of their best offensive innings of the season. The Drovers scored four runs, and Brandt Lierle added his second three-run home run in as many games, which gave the Drovers a 10-7 lead.

OBU scored four runs and retook the lead in the sixth, but USAO tied up the score in the seventh when Cody Hines drove in Bryan Jones. OBU answered with three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 14-11 lead.

In the top of the eighth, the Drovers looked like they had taken control of the game and would advance the farthest any USAO team ever has in the SAC Tournament. Scott Ylda and Louie Romero hit two-run homers as USAO scored four runs in the inning and took a 15-14 lead in to the bottom of the eighth.

Alfonso Cardenas struck out the first batter of the inning but put the game-tying run on base with a hit batter. Closer Ken Wieda, who closed out Southern Nazarene the day before, entered the game and collected out number two by way of strikeout. The game changed for the worse on one swing as Thomas, the lead off batter, hit what proved to be the game-winning two-run homer to left field.

USAO ends its season 24-25 overall and will lose 11 players after this season. Three players finished with batting averages over .375 including Ryan Birney’s .405 average with 11 doubles, four triples and four home runs. Hines led the team with seven home runs and 16 doubles.

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