O'Malley Ties Single-Season Home Run Record | Oilers Fall at Cedarville
Cedarville, Ohio – The University of Findlay baseball team lost a pair of one-run games on Saturday, April 17 on the road at the hands of the Cedarville Yellow Jackets. Findlay lost Saturday's opener in a walk-off, 11-10, and then dropped the nightcap by a score of 6-5. With the losses, the Oilers are now 10-17 on the season and 8-12 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play while the Yellow Jackets improve their standing, moving up to 13-15 overall and an even 10-10 in the conference.
Trailing 6-2 in the fourth inning of the opener, senior Ryan O'Malley, who went deep twice in game one yesterday, launched a ball over the fence in left field for a two-run shot that pulled the Oilers to within a run at 6-4. Sophomore Cole Kwiatkowski later tripled home junior Brandon Emery and RBI singles by senior Austin Rawlins and sophomore Cam Farrar put Findlay on top 7-6.
Cedarville swung back, however, as they scored two runs in the fourth on an error to take back the lead and scored one more in the fifth to stretch the advantage to 9-7.
Trailing 9-7 in the sixth, O'Malley stepped up with two runners on base and hit his fourth home run of the series, a three-run shot to left that gave the Oilers a 10-9 lead with just six outs left to secure the win.
The Yellow Jackets answered in a big way in the bottom of the seventh and final inning as Brandon Doehne led off the inning with a home run and later, Lucas Rotello had an RBI single to give Cedarville the walk off win.
Sophomore Chase Hopewell started on the mound and went three innings and allowed six runs, three earned, on four hits. He struck out three. Senior Jordan Bekier took the loss in relief as he threw 1.2 innings and allowed a pair of runs on two hits.
In the nightcap, Cedarville plated a single run in the first and Findlay got one of their own on an RBI single by Tyler Burley in the third to tie the game.
Later, trailing 3-1 in the fifth, Brandon Emery led off with a single and scored on a triple by Cole Kwiatkowski, his second of the day. A double by Burley tied the game and a fly ball and wild pitch allowed Burley to score giving the Oilers a 4-3 lead.
However, Cedarville scored two runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead.
The Oilers got one back in the top of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Farrar, but it was not enough as the Yellow Jackets got the win.
Sophomore starting pitcher Tyler Trammel took the loss to fall to 0-3 on the year as he threw five innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits. He walked three and struck out eight.
Offensively, Kwiatkowksi finished with three hits including two triples, three runs scored, and three RBI while Brandon Emery had four this including a double, and three runs scored.
O'Malley finished the series with four home runs which gives him eight this season, tying the Oilers single-season record for home runs.
The road to the G-MAC Tournament does not get any easier as the Oilers remain on the road next weekend, heading to Nashville to take on Trevecca Nazarene on Friday-Saturday, April 23-24.