POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. –
Cesar Rodriguez had four hits leading the Rogers State baseball team to an 8-6 come-from-behind, non-conference win away from home at College of the Ozarks Monday at Coach Bob Smith Field.
The junior went 4-for-6 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored as the Hillcats belted 15 hits on the day but left 14 runners on base.
RSU opened the scoring aided by a Bobcat error in the first as
Blake Gipson drew a bases-loaded walk to score
Caleb Kohlmeyer for a 1-0 advantage.
Ozarks put up a three-run bottom half of the inning, all coming unearned against starting pitcher
Erik Estrada. Former Hillcat J.D. Payne delivered a sacrifice fly before a two-run single from Jesse Fisher pushed the Bobcat lead to 3-1.
The Hillcats responded quickly with a four-run top of the second getting back-to-back, two-run hits by Rodriguez and Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week
Andrew Vanisi. Rodriguez doubled into deep left center scoring
Alex Cochran and
Chase Knott. Vanisi singled into left plating Kohlmeyer and Rodriguez giving the Cats a 5-3 edge on the scoreboard.
In the fourth,
Garrett Hall nearly drove a ball through the heavy wind and out of the park, but settled for a double off the fence in left bringing Vanisi home as the Hillcat advantage doubled to 6-3.
Rodriguez added his third hit to lead off the sixth and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Gipson. The Bobcats answered the tally in the bottom of the frame as a lead-off walk by reliever
Matthew Shepard came around making it a 7-4 contest.
Kohlmeyer battled through an 11-pitch at bat in the seventh delivering a RBI single past a diving third baseman to score
Ryan Hendricks from third giving RSU an 8-4 cushion. A pair of unearned runs against the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh kept the game interesting but the Hillcats closed out the road win, 8-6.
Nine different players came through with hits for the Cats as Kohlmeyer, Rodriguez, Vanisi, and Hall had multi-hit efforts.
Estrada settled into the game after the first, picking up his first win as a Hillcat allowing three runs, zero earned, on six hits over five innings.
Buddy Fellers closed out the ninth, in order, earning his first save in the navy and red. Colton Webber (0-3) was charged with the loss for College of the Ozarks lasting just 1.1 innings giving up four runs on two hits with four walks.
Rogers State (16-27) was scheduled to play a non-conference tilt at Southern Nazarene Tuesday but has been postponed due to weather and will not be made up. The Hillcats next travel to Goodwell, Oklahoma to close the season with a three-game Heartland Conference series against Oklahoma Panhandle State. Check back to
www.rsuhillcats.com for the latest information.
