OKC Stop Sugar Land Short

May 8, 2024 – Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Baseball Club News Release

A five-run fifth-inning broke a tie game, and the Oklahoma City Baseball Club averted a late rally by the Sugar Land Space Cowboys to secure an 8-6 win Wednesday afternoon at Constellation Field. The game was tied, 1-1, through four innings before OKC (21-14) scored five runs on five hits in the fifth inning. Drew Avans, Trey Sweeney and Andre Lipcius all had run-scoring doubles during the rally, putting Oklahoma City in front, 6-1. Jonathan Araúz singled home two runs with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning to stretch the lead to 8-1. Luke Berryhill hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Sugar Land (23-12) still trailed, 8-4, into the ninth inning. Berryhill picked up a RBI double, and later a two-out throwing error scored Berryhill and brought the tying run to the plate before Michael Petersen struck out Jesús Bastidas to end the game.

Of Note:

-Oklahoma City won for the fifth time in the team’s last seven games. At 21-14, the team has matched its season high at seven games above .500.

-Each of the first two games of the current series have been decided by one or two runs. OKC is now 12-10 in games decided by two runs or less, accounting for 22 of the team’s 35 total games this season.

-Starting pitcher Elieser Hernández lasted a season-high 5.2 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk while earning his team-leading fourth win of the season. He also notched a season-high eight strikeouts, which is tied for the most by an Oklahoma City pitcher this season…Over his last five outings, Hernández has allowed seven earned runs across 25.2 innings while recording 29 strikeouts against five walks.

-Drew Avans reached base four times, collecting two hits and two walks with a RBI and two runs scored. Avans has started the current series 4-for-7 with two extra-base hits and three walks…Wednesday marked Avans’ fifth multi-hit outing in his last seven games.

-Andre Lipcius went 2-for-5 with a two-run double. He has nine multi-hit games in his last 14 games overall and 14 multi-hit game overall this season, which ranks second on the team.

-Miguel Vargas tallied a game-high three hits, and Austin Gauthier picked up his first two hits since being promoted to Triple-A.

-OKC tallied a season-high 26 at-bats with runners in scoring position, going 6-for-26. The team went 5-for-8 in the fifth inning, but just 1-for-18 in all…