Senior Jesse Murphy cracked a pair of homers for the Vikings against sixth-ranked Oklahoma City, which blasted 14 dingers to take the three-game series. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The nation's second-windiest city proved a boon to home team hitters and a bane on Missouri Valley College pitchers over the weekend.

Sixth-ranked Oklahoma City belted 14 homers while sweeping the three-game non-conference baseball series, 17-8 and 22-9 on Saturday and 13-8 Sunday. None of the Star's sluggers shone more brightly than senior David Dennis. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound first baseman from California smashed four dingers, driving in 13 runs and scoring seven times.

Dennis was relatively quiet in the opener, with only a solo shot -- the first of Oklahoma City's three in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Vikings probably suspected they were in for a long series when junior Brandon Moss clocked a grand slam in the first inning.

Seniors Jesse Murphy and Kyle Eley each had three hits for Valley, which tied the game at 5-5 with three runs in the fourth. However, the Stars scored four runs in the bottom half of the frame and hung an eight-spot on MVC in the fifth -- all with two out -- to put the game out of reach.

Eley smashed two taters and knocked in six runs in the nightcap, but Oklahoma City recorded crooked numbers in each of the first seven innings -- including seven runs in the seventh, four on sophomore Drew McAdoo's slam.

Murphy got Sunday off to a good start with a first-inning homer, not hurt by a 25 mile-per-hour breeze blowing straight out to left field, but Dennis had a couple of answers for that -- a three-run blast in the first and two-run shot in the second for his third multi-homer game of the season.

Down 8-0 after two innings, the Vikings climbed back in it. Senior Russell McGinnis doubled in two runs and scored in the fourth and junior Tim Embree plated a pair and also came in to close the margin to 9-7 in the seventh.

The Stars (19-1) pulled away again in the bottom of the seventh as both juniors Brent Weaver and Caleb Annesley went yard with a man on base to extend their winning streak to nine games.

Valley (4-7), which yielded 60 hits and 42 earned runs during the series, has lost six in a row. The Vikings will host Missouri Baptist in their home opener Tuesday.