CLAREMORE, Okla. - The Rogers State baseball team jumped back into the postseason hunt with a doubleheader sweep over the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Saturday afternoon at the Hillcat Complex in Claremore.
 

The Diamond Cats completed a three-game sweep by edging the Drovers in a pair of one-run games. Rob Rodriguez gave RSU a 4-3 win in the opener with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh. The Hillcats scored seven early runs and withstood a six-run inning by USAO to post a 7-6 victory in the series finale. The sweep was the first for RSU since the first conference series of the season against St. Gregory's.

GAME ONE
 

The Hillcats bagged the series victory with a pair of big hits in the bottom of the seventh inning. Sophomore Billy Balak ripped a double to right-center and pinch-runner Keith Poverud scored the game-winning run on Rodriguez's single up the middle.
 

The last inning heroics earned starter Grant Cosby a well-deserved pitching victory. Cosby (5-3) allowed just three runs on seven hits in a complete-game performance. The senior right-hander racked up three strikeouts against one walk and needed only 86 pitches to complete the gem.
 

The Cats gave Cosby some early run support with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Kevin Radford put RSU on the board with an RBI single to right and Balak followed with a two-run single. USAO cut the lead to one on a solo homer by David Masters in the third and tied the score with an RBI single by Newt Compton in the fifth.

Cosby retired the last seven Drovers of the ballgame in order. Nate Hammons (6-3) was tagged with the loss for USAO. Hammons yielded four runs on five hits while going the distance for USAO. Balak led the charge offensively with two runs and two RBI.

GAME TWO
 

RSU took a commanding lead early and then held on for dear life to complete the sweep against the Drovers in the nightcap.
 

The Cats led 7-0 after four innings. USAO starter Derek Wilkerson survived just one inning before being chased from the game in the second. Brandt Barnes and Tyler Harold singled and scored in the first to make it 2-0. Rodriguez worked a leadoff walk in the second and Lance Rymel and Jairo Valdez followed with singles to bring Wilkerson's outing to a close.
 

Barnes greeted reliever Garan Qualls with a triple and raced home on a single by Harold to stretch the lead to five. Valdez, Barnes, Harold and Luis Caraballo put together four straight hits in the fourth to make it 7-0.
 

RSU starter Tyler Garner cruised through the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. The Drovers plated six runs with four hits and the help of two Hillcat errors in the inning. Freshman Casey Cassity relieved Garner midway through the frame and halted the rally with three quick outs.
 

Cassity shutdown the Drovers over the final two frames to record his first save of the season. Garner (6-4) picked up the win with four-plus innings of work. Wilkerson (3-1) suffered his first loss in an abbreviated start. Barnes and Harold led the Hillcats with three hits apiece.
 

Rogers State (21-15, 9-12) will hit the road next week for four games. The Cats will travel to Muskogee Monday to face Bacone College and will spend the weekend in Alva for a three-game series against Northwestern Oklahoma State.