FHSU Athletics
OKLAHOMA CITY – Fort Hays State saw its road woes continue on Tuesday (Apr. 12), falling twice to Oklahoma Christian in non-conference action. The Tigers fell by scores of 1-0 and 5-2, seeing their road losing streak grow to 11 games. FHSU is now 17-28 overall. Oklahoma Christian improved to 21-23.
Game 1: Oklahoma Christian 1, Fort Hays State 0
The Tigers suffered their eighth walk-off loss in their last 11 road games by failing to get a runner past second base in a 1-0 loss. Pitcher Paxton Duran held Oklahoma Christian scoreless through the first six innings, but could not extend the game in the seventh when OCU loaded the bases with no outs and pushed the winning run across with a one-out single.
The Tigers had just four hits and a pair of walks off Oklahoma Christian’s Madison Hagood. The bottom of the Tiger lineup (batters No. 6 through 9 in the order) struggled going 0-for-10 at the plate in the game. Hagood struck out three Tiger batters.
Duran allowed six hits and a walk, while striking out eight in the tough-luck loss.
Game 2: Oklahoma Christian 5, Fort Hays State 2
Fort Hays State enjoyed a 2-1 lead for three innings before Oklahoma Christian rallied past in the fifth. The Tigers benefitted from a pair of Oklahoma Christian errors in the second to plate their only runs of the day.
Oklahoma Christian took the lead early with a run in the first, but the Tigers rallied with two outs in the second. With two outs, Mackenzie Villarreal hit a double and then an error by the Oklahoma Christian right fielder off the bat of Madeline LaPolla plated Villarreal to tie the game at 1-1. Then Erin Elmore reached on an error by the shortstop that allowed LaPolla to come around to score from second to give FHSU its first lead.
After benefitting errors to take the lead, FHSU committed an error in the fifth that gave the lead back to Oklahoma Christian. Carrie Clarke surrendered a two-out RBI single that tied the game, but then a fielding miscue off the bat of Haley Squier allowed the go ahead run to come all the way around from first to score. Oklahoma Christian tacked on a two-run home run in the sixth to go on and win 5-2.
Clarke gave up five runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk. She struck out one batter. Kaylie Upton picked up the win for Oklahoma Christian, throwing a complete game with just five hits and a walk allowed.
Fort Hays State now turns its focus to its final MIAA doubleheader of the season against Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday, April 23 in Kearney. Currently sitting in seventh place, Fort Hays State will look to earn a berth into the MIAA Tournament in Oklahoma City. The top eight teams in the conference standings qualify. The Tigers will likely need to end their current road skid to do so, but several other conference games will shape the picture of the conference standings in the next 10 days. FHSU will have a better idea of what it needs to do to get in late next week.