Bison dominated NWOSU 3-0 in two-day series

By Michael Stewart, Assistant Sports Editor

The Bison baseball team visited Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Okla for a three-game, two-day series beginning March 31.

The weekend series was highlighted by a couple of historic performances.

First, a no-hitter thrown by senior Carson McPherson in the second game against NWOSU.

“I was lucky to be in the zone,” McPherson said. “When it comes to it, I got a feeling that is indescribable.”

On the other hand, McPherson, who also helped with a no-hitter in the second game of the season, joins Joe Cunningham as the only Bison to be involved in two no-hitters in the same campaign.

It is the 12th no-hitter in Bison history.

In addition, senior Jinny Parra tied the record for career wins as a Bison in the third game of the series.

His shutout at NWOSU notched his 35th career win, tying Bison legends David Hocking and Darrin Fowler.

Ultimately, the weekend proved to be a success as the Bison claimed wins in all three games against their GAC (Great American Conference) opponents.

The Bison tallied 12 hits and ten runs in a 10-5 rout of the Rangers in game one.

“We needed to win the battle of extra bases,” sophomore Austin Cooper said.  “We took advantage of the free bases we were given throughout the game.”

The Bison managed to add runs in five different innings of the nine-inning contest, while maintaining a steady offense throughout the entire game.

Led by senior Tyler Gibson on the mound in game one, the Bison held strong defensively, despite giving up four runs in the fourth inning.

Hours later, the Bison prepared for game two of the series against the Rangers.

“We were expecting to set the tone offensively in game two,” freshman Bob English said.

“We wanted to feed off of our pitching.”

With Carson McPherson on the mound, poised for a historic night, the Bison had no problem feeding off their pitching.

McPherson’s no-hitter in game two put the Bison in charge of the evening. After scoring one run through the first three innings, the Bison scored four runs in the fourth as well as three runs in the sixth to seal an 8-0 win.

The Bison were given plenty of time to put runs on the board, thanks to McPherson’s impressive efforts.

“We competed across the board,” English said. “Our pitching was lights out and we had competitive at-bats.”

The Bison proved to exceed their hopes for game two, resulting in a solid team win.

“My favorite thing about this team is our chemistry,” McPherson said.

“We are very tight-knit, and I think that can go a long way.”

In the third game, the Bison came in expecting nothing less than another win.

“We had Jinny Parra on the mound going for the record in career wins,” Cooper said.

“So you can guarantee we were going to give him our best effort.”

Parra only allowed two hits from the mound, while the Bison offense had 12 hits.

OBU came out strong from the start, scoring five runs in the first inning and two runs in the second inning.

From there, the Bison added three more runs across the last five innings and coasted to a 10-0 win, sweeping the series.

With his win on Saturday, Parra registers a 35-10 win record, and he will most likely have the opportunity to make history as the sole owner of the record by the end of the season.

“We’ve had some tough games in the last couple of weeks,” English said. “But, we came out ready to fight and grind this weekend.”

After this weekend, the Bison are now 20-12 overall on the season and ranked fourth in the GAC with a conference record of 13-8.

Looking forward, the Bison host a pair of non-Conference competitions early next week before welcoming GAC foes, Southwestern Oklahoma State University to a series at Bison Field beginning April 7 at 6 p.m.