Oklahoma Baptist put itself a win away from a berth in the Sooner Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament's championship game with a 16-10 win over Science & Arts of Oklahoma Thursday.
A Bison win over Rogers State - or even a USAO win over St. Gregory's - Friday will propel OBU into the 1 p.m. championship on Saturday. If USAO tops St. Gregory's and Rogers State beats the Bison, it would create a three-way tie of 2-1 teams. OBU would advance based on its higher seed in the tournament.
Only half of OBU's eight runs were earned Thursday night as the Drovers committed seven errors while the Bison made four.
OBU broke a scoreless tie in the third on an error and a two-run single by Dillon Usiak.
USAO cut it to 3-1 in the fourth on an RBI triple by Brian Vigo and added three in the fifth to take a 4-3 edge. Heath Wilda had a two-run double and Brandon Jewett and RBI single.
OBU got two in the home half for a 5-4 lead on a two-run single by Usiak.
The Drovers re-took the lead in the sixth on an inside the park home run by Robert Summers when right fielder Jorden Newton got hung up in the fence. Romus Cezar added an RBI single for the lead.
OBU took the lead for good with a seven-run sixth inning on four hits and four USAO errors. The Bison got an RBI grounder by Yael Colon, a sacrifice fly by Mitchell Prophet and a two-run home run by Daniel Baptista.
USAO scored on a Jewett home run in the eighth, but OBU scored four more in the home half of the inning on a two-run singles by Michael Cerda and Colon.
The Drovers picked up three runs in the ninth on two errors, an RBI single by Konrad Mueller and an RBI ground out by Jared Coon. Baptista ended the game by robbing Wilda with a diving catch of a line drive toward right.
OBU had 17 hits, including three apiece by Colon, Usiak and Cerda and two each by Baptista, Frankie Rivera and Newton.
Chris Rogers (6-2) got the win with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.
USAO (28-20) plays St. Gregory's at 2 p.m. and the Bison (44-12) end the pool session at 6 p.m. against Rogers State.
