GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas --- Brady Hoover's ninth innings heroics helped lift the Washburn Ichabods Saturday evening as they picked up an exciting 8-6 victory over Oklahoma Christian at the Air Hogs Classic in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Trailing 6-4 to start the ninth, the Ichabods (2-1) began their rally with a single down the line by Daniel Reilly, who was then replaced by Cole Emerson. Emerson advanced to third as Darian Abram was hit by a pitch before Bowe Behymer loaded the bases with a high chopper for a single.

With two outs and a 2-2 count, Hoover shoved Washburn out front as he belted a two-run blast over the left field fence for his first career home run, scoring Behymer and himself to make it 8-6. 

Zach Linquist then took over, slamming the door on the Eagles' hopes of stealing Washburn's dramatic rally with a 1-2-3 inning to seal the victory and collect the save.

Washburn scored the first four runs of the afternoon with a pair of solo homers from Josh Crosby in the second and sixth, a sac fly RBI from Kolton Meyer to score Hoover in the fourth, and a wild pitch that resulted in a run by Abram in the fifth. OCU avoid the shut out by plating three in the sixth, before adding two in the seventh and one in the bottom half of the eighth to claim a 6-4 lead

In his first career start, Tanner Strickbine has a solid outing as he tossed 5 2/3 innings allowing just two runs on four hits while retiring 15 of 22 batters faced. Brock Gilliam made a one inning relief apperance before Braden Larkey tallied four strikeouts between the seventh and eighth innings en route to getting credit for the win.

Five Ichabod finished with a hit a piece, while Hoover and Crosby each went 2 for 5. Larson was hitless but drew a pair of walks with Behymer and Jake Bublitz each getting a base-on-ball pass. Collectively, Washburn registered eight runs on seven hits with six runners left while OCU had nine hits, five walks and nine stranded to go with its six runs.

Washburn makes its final appearance at Air Hog Stadium on Sunday when it faces Arkansas Tech at 10 am.