OKLAHOMA CITY (March 19, 2019) – After a lackluster hitting performance in the opening game of a baseball doubleheader with Emporia State (Kan.) on Tuesday, the Oklahoma Christian Eagles resolved to do better in the second game.

They did, and they needed every bit of it. OC blew an early nine-run lead and fell behind by five runs, but rallied for a wild 18-15 win over the Hornets on a windy day at Dobson Field. Emporia State won the opener 6-3.

OC (15-6), ranked sixth in the South Central Region, pounded out a season-high 20 hits in the second game against Emporia State (12-9), which was coming off a series win over the weekend against No. 18-ranked Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

None of those hits was bigger than Garrett Wages' two-out, two-run single to right field in the eighth inning that put OC up 17-15. Wages, a senior third baseman from Midwest City, went 2 for 4 with a home run, five RBIs and four runs scored and every OC starter had at least one hit.

"That was a good win," OC coach Lonny Cobble said. "Emporia State is a really good team. I was worried after the first game but I was proud of the way our guys came out the second game and got the bats going."

Four OC players had three hits in the game – leadoff batter Hunter Markwardt, senior Alex Garcia and freshmen Kevin Collyar and Blake Empkey. The Eagles led 9-0 after two innings, with Wages hitting his first homer of the season, a line drive over the left-field wall, in the second.

But Emporia State – which had 17 hits – came back, scoring three in the third, five in the fourth and five more in the sixth, the last four on a grand slam by Connor Hurst, who had two homers and five RBIs. That put the Hornets up 13-9 and they added a run in the top of the seventh to extend their lead.

OC wasn't done, though, and tied the game with five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Emporia State edged back ahead 15-14 in the top of the eighth before OC jumped on relief pitcher Adam Thies (1-1) in the bottom of the inning.

Berry Hunt singled to left field and Markwardt reached on a bunt single before Thies hit Callen Crockett with a pitch to load the bases. Errett Edwards (who had three RBIs) drove in Hunt with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Wages hit his line-drive single to score Markwardt and Crockett. Wages went to second and third base on wild pitches before scoring on a single to left by Collyar.

OC closer Jared Price retired the Hornets in order in the top of the ninth to record his sixth save. Reliever Hayden Barber (1-0) picked up the pitching win for the Eagles.

In the opener, OC sophomore Robbie Suhr (0-3) pitched a complete game, but a shaky start that included a grand slam by Emporia State's Aaron Dees in the first inning proved to be his undoing. Dees' blast was aided by a 17 mph wind gusting straight out to center field, where he hit the ball.

The Hornets rode the lead generated by Dees' blast all the way. OC scratched out single runs in the first (when Markwardt tripled and scored), second (when Wages doubled and scored) and fourth (when Edwards tripled and scored) innings but managed only three other hits.

Emporia State starter Jarrett Seaton (1-0) pitched four innings in his first appearance of the season, while Drew Repp threw three innings of one-hit relief to earn his first save. The Hornets added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh, one on a solo home run by Hurst.

The OC-Emporia State doubleheader had been scheduled to be played in Emporia, Kan., but was moved to Oklahoma City on Monday because of the forecast for rain in the Sunflower State.

The Eagles will open Heartland Conference play with a three-game series this weekend at longtime Division II power St. Edward's (Texas). OC and the Hilltoppers will play a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. Friday and a single game at 1 p.m. Saturday.