OCU Baseball-Stars grab NAIA homerun record
written by Jessica Lantz
They say records are made to be broken; for the Oklahoma City University baseball team, last Thursday night brought the opportunity to do just that, with the Stars shattering a NAIA home-run record against cross-city competition, Southern Nazarene University.
The record-setting night at Jim Wade Stadium saw OCU topple a landmark the team established just last year, with the Stars smashing seven homeruns by four different teammates by the end of the night. In doing so, the program also finished the contest with a record-breaking season total of 149 homeruns now penned in the books.
It being Senior Night at the park, it was fitting that seniors Landon Camp, Jason Machado and Brent Weaver were part of the record-setting evening, all contributing to the overall total of homeruns for the game.
The OCU Stars notched yet another win on the season, beating the SNU Crimson Storm 12-2 and running their season record to 47-7 (23-6 conference). The Stars are second in the NAIA, trailing only Lubbock Christian in the standings.
The game was kicked off by a two-run blast by Nick Spears of the visiting Storm in the first inning. OCU would fight back with theirown scoring effort in the bottom of the first, however, with a two-out homerun hit by Kirk Walker.
After a throwing error by SNU put B.J. Wheeler on the bag, Landon Camp belted another ball out of the ballpark and left the score 3-2 after six outs of play.
The only second inning excitement came after Brandon Moss hit a foul ball into the lights over the OCU dugout, causing glass to rain on the players and field and stopping the action for clean-up efforts by the Stars players and coaches before the inning could resume.
The second and third frames saw solid pitching by both teams and no runs added to the scoreboard by either side.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Stars’ bats were back in action, this time as Jason Machado got in on the homeruns by belting a two run dinger over the wall to widen the lead to 5-2 at what would become the halfway point in the contest.
After a quick three up, three down for SNU to start the fifth inning, Brent Weaver contributed with a lead-off homerun to tie the single season record at 147 and give him 34 on the year. Three batters later, Machado hit his second two run, four-bagger of the day, landing the Stars the NAIA season homerun record.
After a pitching change by the Crimson Storm, Moss welcomed pitcher Salvador Ramirez into the game by hitting the third homerun of the inning and leaving the score at 9-2.
The sixth inning would be scoreless for both, but the seventh would yield yet another homerun for OCU, the second for Camp and the seventh and final ball to leave the yard for the Stars.
After a two-out double by Chad Carman in the eighth that scored Machado, the game was called at the end of the eighth with a final score of 12-2.
The offense was not the only headliner in the contest, as OCU pitcher Ashur Tolliver pitched all but the last out of the contest, grabbing his tenth win on the year, giving up two runs on six hits and seven strikeouts, all while hurling 105 pitches.
This record-breaking night was followed up Friday by the last game of the regular season, another contest with SNU, where four more homeruns were struck, adding to the season tally and showing that these bats are hot leading into the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament and NAIA Baseball National Tournament, where OCU will be a first-round host site.
