OC Swept by St. Mary's in Conference Tournament

A half-hour half-inning turned a comfortable lead into a deficit, and the home team never recovered.

The Oklahoma Christian baseball team was eliminated from the Lone Star Conference tournament by St. Mary’s in a 18-15 loss Saturday afternoon at Dobson Field.

OC (24-16) lost game one 16-3 Friday night.

St. Mary’s (24-18) advances to the double elimination portion of the tournament.

OC coach Lonny Cobble said before the game, all he asked of his players was to give themselves a chance.

“Just play hard,” Cobble said. “Let’s show up, let’s do what we can. We got down early. We battled back. We got a lead. We gave it up, then we kept battling. One thing about them, they were never out of it. It just didn’t go our way.”

OC led 12-4 after four innings. The Rattlers scored 5 in the fifth to get back into the game. Then, with OC leading 13-9, St. Mary’s took the lead in a 30-minute top of the 7th inning.

OC hit the first hitter before walking the next four. The first out came on a game-tying sacrifice fly by Johnny Hernandez. The next batter, Mac Papini, gave the Rattlers the lead with a 3-run home run. Brian Juarez followed with a solo homer.

OC pitcher Casey Minchey, the fourth pitcher of the inning, retired the next two hitters, but the damage had been done.

St. Mary’s scored 8 runs with two hits.

“You just can’t do that,” Cobble said. “You have to make them swing the bat. They were patient, and we just didn’t throw strikes. Unfortunately, it snowballed on us, and that’s where it all went south.”

OC freshman Michael DiFiore hit two home runs in the game, tying Todd Tyo for the single-season school home run record with 19. He led the Eagles with 4 RBIs after hitting 3-4.

Cobble said DiFiore’s performance was a bright spot.

“We’ve got some good, young players,” Cobble said. “I just want them to keep getting better, and they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.”

Cole Lee hit 1-3 and walked twice for 3 RBIs. Blake Empkey and Coleton Hinkle each batted in 2 runs.

For St. Mary’s, Brandon Broughton hit 3-4 with 5 RBIs. Papini had 3 RBIs.

Cobble said after battling through the pandemic and other issues the Eagles faced throughout the season, it was good to be able to play in a postseason series.

“We got nothing to be ashamed of,” Cobble said. “For a team that was picked ninth to start the year in conference and finish fourth. You’d like to have won two or three more games, but it just didn’t go our way.”