Alice Lloyd Baseball falls in River States Conference Tournament to Oakland City University

Oakland City, IN: On April 25th, the Alice Lloyd College Eagles baseball team journeyed to the Hoosier state to face a strong Oakland City University Mighty Oaks squad in a best-of-three showdown. The Indiana club would play well and take the series with a pair of impressive performances. ALC's record now stands at 17-33, while OCU moves to 38-14.

Game 1

OCU-17; ALC-5

The hosts earned the first run of the game off a solo blast (1-0). They then moved ahead 2-0 on a single. They would use another single in the second to earn two more runs and place the score at 4-0.

In the third, ALC made a nice run. Sparked by singles from Kyle Johnson (CF), Cory Jefferson (2B) and Cole Bishop (C), the Kentucky boys would earn three runs to get within 4-3. However, the momentum would soon change.

In the fourth, OCU broke the game open. The home team would utilize a two-run double and nine singles to gain nine runs. Suddenly, the Pioneers led 13-3.

The Eagles added a pair of scores in the sixth after Jefferson and Grover Maynard (RF) singled and Aaron Rothballer (DH) doubled. This would cut the deficit to 13-5.

The Oakland City club would make that back and more in the bottom of the inning by belting a double and pair of singles to pull ahead, 17-5. That score would stand up until the final out.

For ALC, Jefferson, Rothballer, Bishop and Johnson each recorded 2 hits while Bishop led with 2 RBI's.

 On the mound, Gibbs Cochran started and suffered the loss. He allowed 12 hits and 9 earned runs with 1 strikeout in 3 innings of work.

In relief, JT Griswold and Lucas Combs threw 1 and 2 innings. They gave up 9 hits and 8 runs between them.

The hosts would take the hitting battle 21-11 and commit 1 error, compared to a pair by the Eagles.

Game 2

                                                     OCU-15; ALC-1

In the first inning, the hosts came out of the dugout on fire, riding a single, double and triple to race ahead, 5-0.

In the second, OCU added one run (6-0), and would then build on that by adding a pair of scores in the third to pull ahead further, 8-0.

In the Eagle fourth, Rothballer would blast a homer to left (8-1). Unfortunately, this would be his squads lone run on the day.

In the meantime, the Mighty Oaks would increase their lead with a solo shot in the fifth (9-1). They then utilized another homer to fuel a six-run inning. This lifted them to a 15-1 cushion, and would prove to be the final score.

For the day, ALC recorded just 4 hits with the Rothballer bomb proving to be his team's only extra base hit and RBI of the game.

Sunny Smith started on the mound and suffered the loss. He went 2.2 innings, allowing 7 hits and 8 earned runs. Trenton Williams gave up 4 hits and 5 earned runs in his 2.2 innings while Chase Conly went the final 0.2 innings, giving up 2 hits and 2 runs. Each pitcher registered 1 KO.

The victors dominated the hitting battle, 13-4, and the Eagles hurt themselves with 3 errors.