USAO’s baseball (17-13, 5-4 SAC) was back in action for one game on Tuesday afternoon at Bill Smith Ballpark as they faced off against NCAA Division II opponent Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) (15-15, 8-10 GAC).

SWOSU struck first blood as they scored their first two runs off of a homerun in the top of the second inning. The next run scored by the Bulldogs at the top of the third inning was due to an error, which ended up being a significant factor in this game for USAO. Over the course of nine innings, the Drovers committed four errors. SWOSU would score two more runs in the top of the third inning to bring to score to 5-0.

Neither team would score again until the fifth inning. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 7-0 off a double and a triple at the top of the fifth. USAO would finally get on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning off a homerun from Will Hoch. The top of the sixth inning showed the Bulldogs pulling even further away, as they scored two runs to bring the score to 9-1. The Drovers rallied together to score two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off a single from Gunnar Hansen and an error that led to runs from Ryan Duncan and Ben Lawson. It wasn’t enough as SWOSU pulled out of reach in the ninth inning, where the Bulldogs scored two runs to end the game at 11-3.

The Drovers will be back in action Friday, March 31st, with a three-game series against Central Christian College (CCC) at Bill Smith Ballpark. Friday will host two games starting at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., and Saturday’s game will begin at noon.

Preston Palm is a second-year Communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.