KCAC
[Baseball] Baseball Falcons walk-off win over No. 23 OKWU clinches series victory
WICHITA, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons pulled out a dramatic, 3-2 walk-off victory over the No. 23-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles today (Apr. 11) at West Side Athletic Field. The Falcons have now won four straight to move over .500 at 19-18 overall and 13-10 in the KCAC.After dropping the opening game of the series 17-0 back on Feb. 28 in Bartlesville, Okla., the Falcons rebounded and defeated the Eagles 3-1 (Mar. 21) and then today in Wichita to win the season series.The common denominator in those two wins was starting pitcher Spencer Davidson (SO/Delphos, Kan), who was fantastic in both games. The Delphos, Kan. native allowed just one run in six innings on Mar. 21 and then blanked the high-octane Eagles through four innings in today's win.It was a scoreless game until the Eagles got on the scoreboard on an RBI double by Jordyn Smith in the fifth.The Eagles had threatened to score earlier, but a strong throw from left fielder Caleb Coats (SO/Katy, Texas) nailed Jesus Rojas at the plate for the final out of the fourth inning.Friends tied the score and went ahead in the seventh when Sam Engberg (JR/Kearney, Neb. ) put down a perfect sacrifice bunt and reached on an error that scored pinch-runner Melwin Perez (SO/San Sebastian, Puerto Rico) with the tying run. Engberg then came home on a sacrifice fly by Coats to put the Falcons on top 2-1.It didn't take long for the Eagles to respond, as Aaron Gerdes drew a leadoff walk before scoring the tying run on a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the eighth.But with two outs in the ninth, the Falcons rallied behind a double by Buster Hardman (JR/American Fork, Utah), who then scored the game-winning run on an RBI single by Niquan Benjamin (SO/US Virgin Islands) following an intentional walk to Pablo Oden (SR/Hollywood, Fla.).After Davidson exited after four innings, the relief combination of Daniel Jaime (SO/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), Cameron Chase (FR/Colorado Springs, Colo.), Jackson Powell (FR/Lufkin, Texas) and Matt Postier (SO/Wichita, Kan.) gave the Falcons a solid performance out of the bullpen to limit the Eagles offensively. Postier got the win after pitching the final two frames and giving up one run.The Eagles, who average 10.35 runs per game, have been limited to just one run in each of the two outings in Wichita this season.Devon Lujan (SO/Olathe, Kan.) went 2-of-2 with a walk to pace the Falcons, while Drenis Ozuna had three hits for the Eagles.Tucker Grote started for OKWU (29-11, 15-8 KCAC) and pitched five shutout innings with six strikeouts and three walks.The Falcons will next begin a three-game series at York University on Friday afternoon (Apr. 14) starting at 3 pm in York, Neb.