Bronchos Did Some Early Spring Cleaning Over the Weekend

The University of Central Oklahoma men’s baseball team swept Colorado Christian over the weekend at home, collecting four more wins, bringing their record to 7-3 on the year. 

UCO took game one of the Friday doubleheader in a pitchers’ duel. 

Braxton Jones got the start for the series opener and was dominant, going six innings, giving up three hits, and racking up 10 punchouts. 

UCO was able to get on base eight times but would only score a lone run in the fourth inning, coming off a Cade Mills’ fielder’s choice. 

That would be enough to do the job, as Jones would go two more innings before handing it over to Brody Berlowitz for the save. Berlowitz would retire the side in a 1-2-3 fashion as UCO would move on to game two.

The Bronchos’ offense started early in game two after havoc on the base path came with Kade Sheldon stealing home during a delayed double steal. 

The base paths granted the Bronchos another run in the fourth when Mills scored on a wild pitch. 

Danny Satterlee was effective on the mound, holding CCU scoreless for 11 innings, but the Cougars scored four runs in the fifth inning. 

A walk brought in the first, an errant fielder’s choice would plate two runs, and then a single plating one more run to bring CCU to a 4-2 lead. 

UCO answered, exploding for five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

An Ayres sac fly would score Sheldon, Luke Stout would come in on a balk, then Drake Lee would put the exclamation point on the game with a deep three-run home run to right center field. 

Chase Yarger and Mylan Childers were dominant out of the bullpen, going two and two-thirds pitched and not allowing a run. 

“Double headers are about who wants in more. It’s a long day, mentally and physically, but we stayed locked in pitch by pitch,” said Childers.

“We didn’t try to do too much, just trusted our preparation and played for each other. Winning both is a credit to the whole team and everyone who showed up,” he continued.  

UCO would bring the offense with them on Saturday afternoon for game three. 

Ayres and Lee kicked things off in the third and fourth innings as they both belted solo homers to right field. 

Logan Taylor would ride his start to the fourth inning without giving up a single run and adding 3 K’s to his stat line. 

A back-and-forth battle broke out in the sixth inning as CCU plated three runs on three hits. 

UCO responded, however, with three of their own. 

Carson Taylor scored one, and Wyatt Yetter joined the party with a sac fly scoring Lee. Ayres added another sac fly, scoring another to bring the Bronchos lead to 5-3. 

The Panthers would take the lead in the seventh with two defensive miscues coming on a throwing error and a wild pitch. They tacked on a sac fly to make it 7-5. 

UCO answered once again, scoring three runs coming from a Taylor RBI single and a Caleb Castle two-run double. 

The back half of the bullpen would put the game on lockdown for the final two innings, as UCO secured a series win with an 8-7 victory on Saturday. 

The Bronchos brought their brooms to the ballpark on Sunday as UCO looked to complete their series sweep. 

UCO got things going early, scoring in the first as Sheldon would come in on a wild pitch. 

CCU responded with a run of their own in the second.

UCO went on a scoring stretch shortly after, as Stout would hit an RBI single in the third, scoring Castle. 

Central added two more in the fourth as Elijah Alexander scored on a wild pitch, and an RBI single from Taylor would plate another. 

Lee helped the Broncho offense with an RBI single. 

CCU would score a lone run in the seventh, but it wouldn’t cause a scratch as UCO would add another two runs in the eighth. 

Kamden Thompson went seven innings, allowing two runs on just six hits. 

Bron Farr would pick up a save after retiring all 6 batters he faced in order as they would sweep CCU and win 7-2.

Kade Sheldon, a Cowley County transfer, has been manning the lead-off spot and playing rangy defense for UCO early this year.

“We’ve been finding ways to get wins, but haven’t played anywhere close to our potential,” Sheldon said. “A double in the gap does the job every time.”

UCO will look to continue defending home field as they host No. 17 Drury in a three-game series this weekend, with first pitch set for 3 pm Friday.