FHSU Sports Information
Fort Hays State split a road conference doubleheader with Central Oklahoma on Saturday in Edmond, Okla. The Tigers won the first game, 4-1, in a late innings comeback before dropping Game 2, 9-1, in six innings.
FHSU (18-11, 8-4 MIAA) snapped UCO’s 35-game home win streak with the Game 1 victory, and is tied with Northeastern State for fourth in the conference standings. UCO (22-8, 11-1 MIAA) moved to second in the standings with the split.
The Tigers return to Hays, Kan., next week for an eight-game homestand, beginning Tuesday (March 25) with a doubleheader against Metro State.
Game 1: FHSU 4, UCO 1
Fort Hays State scored four late inning runs to secure a comeback victory over Central Oklahoma in Game 1 of the doubleheader.
Paxton Duran (10-5) followed up a no-hitter in her last time out with a complete game performance (her third in the last four games), striking out four and scattering three hits.
Offensively, Courtney Dobson was 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, while Rilee Krier was 2-for-3 and Kylie Strand finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a run.
UCO took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, as Brooke Zukerman homered to center field, but the lead was short lived as FHSU answered in the sixth.
In the sixth, Krier and Dobson started the inning with back-to-back singles, but havoc ensued when Amanda Vaupel grounded to third base, as Krier was out at third with UCO shortstop Hannah Justus covered, but when trying to complete the double play, Justus overthrew first base, allowing Dobson to wheel around to score and Vaupel to reach third, tying the game. In the next at-bat, Danie Brinkmann’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Vaupel to give FHSU a 2-1 advantage.
FHSU added insurance runs in the seventh, starting with Kylie Strand’s leadoff single up the middle before taking second on Tori Beltz’s sacrifice bunt. With one down, Kellsi Olsen walked to put runners on first and second. Later in the inning, Krier’s bunt single loaded the bases with two outs for Dobson, who singled through the left side to plate Strand and Olsen, putting the Tigers ahead three (4-1) with one half-inning to play.
Game 2: UCO 9, FHSU 1
Fort Hays State mustered seven hits in the doubleheader finale, but couldn’t overcome a hot UCO offense that exploded for nine runs on 11 hits.
Kelsy Kinninau (7-4) took the loss, throwing 3.2 innings with five runs allowed (four earned) on six hits. Kimminau struck out two before Katlyn Kern closed out the final 1.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits.
Rilee Krier and Danie Brinkmann were 2-for-3 at the plate, as Krier had the Tigers lone RBI, scoring Kelli Koehhler, Kylie Strand, Callie Wright and Samantha Villarreal had the Tigers’ other hits.
UCO jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, taking advantage of three hits and an FHSU error before tacking on one run in both the third and fourth innings.
Down 5-0 in the fifth, Villarreal led off the inning with a pinch hit single before Koehler replaced her at first base. With one out, Koehler moved to second on Bianca Adame’s sacrifice bunt and came around to score when Krier took an 0-0 pitch into center field for an RBI single.
That was it for the Tigers, however, as UCO scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth before enacting the run-rule with a solo home run in the sixth.