LANCASTER, Calif. – Bronson Chapple flirted with a no-hitter, striking out eight batters in a complete-game shutout, helping Oregon Tech split a doubleheader with Antelope Valley at Lancaster Community Stadium.
 
The host Pioneers (6-3) used a 4-run seventh inning to win the opener, 6-3, with Chapple taking the no-no into the sixth inning, finishing with a 1-hitter in a 4-0 Game 2 victory.
 
Chapple surrendered a one-out walk in the first inning to Noah Blythe, with the runner erased on a caught stealing. The righty retired the next 15 batters in a row before Ryder Lundahl broke up the no-hit bid with a sixth inning single.
 
The Owls (3-7) offense did the rest – as Julien Jones tripled in the second and scored on the play when the relay throw from the outfield eluded UAV catcher Nathan Guidara. OIT extended the margin to 3-0 in the fourth, as Jones scored on an error and Patrick Barry added a sacrifice fly. Tyler Horner capped the scoring with his fourth homer of the season, a seventh inning solo blast.
 
It marked the first complete game allowing one hit or fewer for OIT since Josh Strom threw a seven-inning no-hitter vs. Simpson in 2006.
 
Horner finished 2-for-4, with Jones logging a 3-hit game.
 
In the opener, Tech trailed 2-1 in the seventh inning of the 9-inning game, but Alonzo Vergara tied the score with a solo home run to left. UAV answered in the bottom of the inning with a 4-run outburst, with Balas Buckmaster providing the big blow, a 2-run double.
 
Korrey Siracusa was 2-for-5 and Vergara had two hits in the loss for Tech, with Blythe going 3-for-4 with a homer for the Pioneers.
 
The two teams close out the weekend series on Saturday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader.