RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Patrick Castleberry turned in a 2-for-3 night with two doubles and a run scored, while Bryan Heward knocked his 11th home run of the season, but it wasn't enough for the Arkansas Tech baseball team, which dropped a 7-3 nonconference decision to Ouachita Baptist Tuesday evening at Tech Field.

The Wonder Boys (27-18) also saw Kris Ayers and Collin O'Neil collect hits and starter Aaron Johnson work 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven while allowing three runs on six hits against conference mate OBU (23-13).

The guests got on the board in the top of the first thanks to a two-run homer, but Tech clawed its way back in it as the offense began to find its legs and Johnson found his footing. Castleberry cracked his team's first hit of the day with a double down the left field line on the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning, moving to third and scoring on back-to-back groundouts to the right side by Cole Fergus and Caleb McKinnon to cut the deficit in half.

After working out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, Johnson allowed just a pair of hits and a walk over the next three frames, giving his offense time to complete the short comeback. That happened in the fifth, as Seth Wheeler was hit by a 1-2 pitch to lead things off, followed by Rafiel Johnson reaching on a fielding error as he laid down a sacrifice bunt. That gave Mark Vaughn the chance to move both runners up with a sac bunt of his own, and after Heward was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Ayers knocked a sac fly to deep center field to plate Wheeler and tie it up.

The draw would be short-lived, however, as OBU went ahead with a single run in the top of the seventh and pulled away with four more in the eighth. Heward got the Wonder Boys within shouting distance with a solo shot to left in the bottom half of the eighth. Ayers followed with a bloop that he turned into a double, and Castleberry walked to put two on with two out, but a slick double play on a line drive to third effectively ended the Tech rally.

The Wonder Boys take to the road Wednesday for a 3 p.m. nonconference matchup against Drury.