SWEDES SWEEP RESCHEDULED DATE WITH WARRIORS; GAME 3 STILL TBD

Oklahoma City, Okla. – The Bethany College Swedes Baseball team took the road down to Oklahoma City, Okla. to host the Sterling College Warriors in Oklahoma City University's Jim Wade Stadium. This was both the Swedes' and Warriors' conference opener.

Game 1

The Swedes opened the first game down 4-0 before the bottom of the second inning. In that half inning, Israel Brenes would put Bethany on the board hitting into a fielder's choice that score Alex Cuevas. In the fourth inning, William Sanchez used a wild pitch by Sterling to cut the deficit down to two.

The fifth inning is where things went wry for Sterling as Connor Crayton would hit a double to left field to score Emanuel Alicea. He would stay on the bases for long as William Sanchez hit a nuke over left center to clear the bases and give the Swedes a 6-4 lead. Josue Figuera would tack on one more crossing the plate via a Jonathan Crist fielder's choice groundout. Alex Cuevas would bring home Fernando Bones in the sixth inning for the eventual game-winner as the Swedes took game one 8-7.

Eight different Swedes recorded a hit in game one highlighted by Sanchez's three-run homerun in the fifth inning. Crayton, Sanchez, and Fabian Dumey each hit a double in the contest.

Christopher Echavarria drew the start and went seven innings to earn the win. He would strike out four before Willian Figueroa-Soto would step in for an inning. Alex Martinez would earn the save pitching one inning of no-hit ball.

Game 2

In what was supposed to be a seven-inning game turned into a ten-inning beast. Bethany would strike first in the first inning as Emanuel Alicea would cross homeplate by way of a Connor Crayton single to center field. Neither team would record a hit until the fourth inning where the Warriors would take the lead briefly before Fernando Bones would tie it up via a fielder's choice by the shortstop to get the runner at second out. Following an Alex Cuevas double that put him and William Sanchez in scoring position, the Warriors would commit an error allowing both runners to score and give Bethany a 4-2 lead. The Warriors would hit a sacrifice fly to cut their deficit in half, but the seventh inning is where the excitement truly started.

Sterling would tie the game early in the inning by way of a double. A few batters later, the Swedes would commit a balk scoring the Warriors' fifth run and allow a sacrifice fly to put the Warriors up 6-4.

It seemed as though Sterling would come out on top due to their seventh inning rally, but you have to record three outs first. The Warriors would record two outs early, but Fernando Bones would hit a single to get things started. Sterling would then walk the next four batters to tie it up before finally getting that final out. We would go into extra innings tied 6-6.

Not much would happen in extras until the tenth inning when the Warriors' second baseman committed a crucial error that scored Josue Figuera from second base securing an exciting 7-6 victory and a sweep (so far) for the Swedes.

Four Swedes would record a hit throughout the contest and all four of them tallied two hits apiece. Josue had three RBI and the game-winning score.

Joseph Guzman got the start and went six complete innings allowing six hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Christian Gonzalez stepped in to finish off the Warriors and earn the win going 3.2 innings pitched with two hits and five strikeouts.

Up Next…

The Swedes will get a short break as their next contests are scheduled for the upcoming weekend as they host the Avila University Eagles on Saturday, February 22, and Sunday, February 23. First pitch on Saturday is set for 12:00 PM on Philip Anderson Field and will be the first of a doubleheader.