Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University baseball team battled hard against Central Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon, but came up short in both contests, losing the first 13-4, and the second 7-5. Tyler Christophel led the Bearcat offensive attack by going 9-9 with 5 stolen bases in Saturday's games.

In game one Central Oklahoma jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before the Bearcats got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. With runners on the corners, Christophel singled through the left side bringing home Ross Wolfe followed by a Jeremiah Bryan single to plate Landon Young, pulling the Bearcats within 3. The Bronchos quickly extended their lead to 11-2 before SBU got on the scoreboard again in the bottom of the fourth when Christophel scored on a Bronchos error. The Bearcats would score another run in the sixth off of an rbi single by Drew Miller, but came up short in the game, 13-4.

In the second game of the day, Central Oklahoma once again jumped ahead early, taking a 1-0 lead after the first inning. However, SBU was able to string together hits in the third to take a 3-1 lead. After back-to-back singles and a hit batsman, the Bearcats got one run off of sharp groundout to second from Ross Wolfe. With two outs, Brendon Cox singled to right field, giving SBU a 3-1 lead. Central Oklahoma added another run in the fourth before scoring four more in the sixth to take a 6-3 lead. SBU responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning, starting off with a triple by Cody Crutcher, followed by an rbi single from Bo Helsel. Kyle Jochems then blasted an rbi double the left field line put pull SBU within 1 at 6-5. However the comeback bid wasn't quite enough as Central Oklahoma claimed game two 7-5.

"Central Oklahoma is a very good team," head coach Chris Martin stated. "We just couldn't contain them long enough in games 1 and 2 of the series to give ourselves a chance. Mike [Nielebeck] was really good in game 3 and our bullpen did a good job all weekend. We certainly had chances in game three. I am proud of how we competed after struggling early in the series. We'll get back to work next week and be ready for a big MIAA weekend."

The Bearcats will travel to Topeka, Kansas on Friday, March 23 when they take on the Ichabods of Washburn University. First pitch of the double-header is set for 3:00 p.m.