GOODWELL, Okla. – SWOSU Baseball opened the 2017 season with a doubleheader sweep of Panhandle State on Saturday afternoon at the Aggie Baseball Field in Goodwell. The Bulldogs needed extra innings to earn a 2-1 win in the opener before the bats got hot as SWOSU scored 11 runs in the second game of the twin bill.
"It feels good to get a sweep on the road to open up the season," SWOSU Head Coach
Zack Saunders said following the games. "I was proud of the boys for overcoming some early mistakes and finding a way to win game one, then they showed some flashes of what the offense is capable of in the second game. Overall, I thought our pitching staff did a solid job of holding them down until our bats got going."
SWOSU 2, Panhandle State 1 (8 inn.)
Box Score (html)
SWOSU managed just six hits across eight innings in the season opener, with an RBI sacrifice bunt from
Joshua Santos scoring
Patrick O'Toole from third place for the deciding run in the top of the eighth inning. Panhandle State scored first, getting an unearned run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning.
The Bulldogs quickly responded in the top of the fourth, when
Jason Nichols got a two-out single, then moved up to second on a wild pitch and then over to third on an error by OPSU. Another wild pitch by the Aggies allowed Nichols to score the tying run and the game would remain tied at 1-1 and head into extra innings.
Gunnar Cook started and went 3.1 innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run while striking out four Aggie batters.
Brendan Peitsmeyer (1-0) entered in relief and tossed the final 4.2 innings to earn his first win as a Bulldog after striking out three and allowing two hits.
SWOSU 11, Panhandle State 1
Box Score (html)
The Bulldogs wasted no time getting going in the second game, building a 5-0 lead in the first inning and pushing that to 9-0 after two frames. The first two base runners,
Ruben Rodriguez and
Joshua Santos reached base and came in to score on a two-run double by
Jason Nichols. Two batters later,
Joel Baxley came through with an RBI single into left, scoring Nichols, and
Danny-David Linahan cleared the bases with a two-run triple that completed the five-run first inning.
In the second inning,
Daniel Richardson hit a sacrifice fly that scored Rodriguez and Nichols reached on a single before
Rafael Otero left the yard with a two-run shot that made it 8-0. Not to be outdone, Baxley made it back-to-back home runs when he sent a shot out to left field to put the Dawgs up 9-0.
That would be all of the scoring until OPSU got on the board with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-1.
Rogelio Sanchez provided the answer for SWOSU in the top of the seventh, hitting a two-run home run to left, bringing in
Connor Anderson to push the Bulldogs advantage to 10 at 11-1.
Four pitchers combined to throw a three-hitter against the Aggies.
Devin Ring got the win and picked up the win after allowing just one hit in 3.0 innings with three strikeouts.
Jeremy Smith pitched the fourth and fifth innings with two batters reaching base before
Justin Moreno took the sixth inning and allowed the lone run of the game for OPSU. Preseason All-Region closer
Quintin Dougherty struck out two of the three batters he faced, setting down the Aggies in order to finish the game.
