OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Rogers State baseball team ended the 2018 campaign with a doubleheader split at Oklahoma Christian on Saturday (May 5) at Dobson Field. RSU took game one, 8-2, but saw the Eagles rally with six runs in the ninth of game two to steal a 6-5 win. The Hillcats (26-24, 12-16 Heartland) were victorious in three of the four games during the weekend in Oklahoma City to win the series.
 
RSU 8, OC 2
 
The navy and red scored the first seven runs of game one, including three in the fifth, to cruise to the 8-2 victory over the Eagles.
 
Senior Chris Nakashima started the scoring with a double to the gap in right to score Grant Farris in the second inning. In the third inning, Zack Mann doubled the RSU edge to 2-0 with a double down the line to bring home Sam Casinelli.
 
Senior Garrett Hall drove in one run in the fourth with a single to left center and an error allowed one more run to score for a 4-0 advantage.
 
The Cats poured it on with three runs in the fifth to extend the margin to 7-0. Brendan Griffith opened the inning's scoring with a single to center. Farris tripled to left to make it 6-0, and Nakashima plated another run with an infield single.
 
OC put two runs on the scoreboard late with RBI singles, and Blake Chiaramonte hit a sacrifice fly for the final 8-2 score.
 
In his final appearance in the navy and red, senior Spencer Bivens pitched the complete seven innings with only two runs allowed on nine hits. He posted three strikeouts and moved to 7-5 in his senior season.
 
For game one, RSU tallied 12 hits. Nakashima went 2-for-2 with two RBI and one walk. Garris was 3-for-4 with one RBI. Mann and Hall finished 2-for-4 with one RBI.
 
OC 6, RSU 5
 
After the Hillcats built a 5-0 advantage in game one, OC rallied with six runs in the bottom of the ninth to prevent the four-game sweep and steal one game from RSU with a walk-off win.
 
RSU gained the 5-0 margin with two two-run homers. With the Hillcats up 1-0, Hall knocked out a two-run home run to left as the RSU margin grew to 3-0 in the seventh inning. Two innings later, Bradley Degnan went deep with a two-run home run in the ninth to increase the lead to 5-0.
 
The Eagles started the rally with back-to-back doubles with the second scoring the first runs of the game for OC. The host Eagles tallied the final five runs with two outs in the inning. An infield single drove in another run for a 5-2 score before OC evened the score with a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases for a 5-5 score. Jake Collins gave the Eagles the walk-off win with a single down the line for the 6-5 margin.
 
Degnan and Hall went 2-for-4 with two RBI. RSU registered seven hits in game two.
 
Senior Landon Nealon went 6.0 innings in game two with three strikeouts and only six hits allowed. Sean Robinson added 2.0 innings of shutout pitching. Devland Zakar and Brock Knoten combined for one out each in the ninth inning.
 
The Hillcats finished the 2018 season with a 26-24 record, their third straight winning season. RSU went 12-16 in Heartland Conference play to place sixth in the league standings.