RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Nearly eight hours of baseball was played on Friday as the top-two teams in the Great American Conference duked it out in a marathon doubleheader out at Baswell Field.
 
The Wonder Boys (14-7, 11-3 GAC) emerged victorious, 10-7, in the opener as they stretched their streak of double-digit runs and hits out to five-straight with a 10-run, 15-hit performance. In the nightcap, the Bison (11-7, 10-4 GAC) jumped to a 5-0 lead and held on for a 6-5 win to force the twin-bill split.
 
The rubber game of the series has been moved up an hour and will start at noon in an attempt to beat forecasted rain in the later afternoon in Russellville.
 
GAME ONE
In the opener, Oklahoma Baptist grabbed a modest 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly. The Wonder Boys would crack the scoreboard for the first time in the third and plate two runs to take a 2-1 lead. A half inning later, OKBU knotted the score at 2-all and in the fifth scored twice more to take a 4-2 lead.
 
A Josh Detweiler RBI single through the left side in the bottom of the fifth cut the Wonder Boys' deficit in half. An inning later, the Wonder Boys' bats got rolling as they scored five runs on four hits and suddenly led the Bison by four, 8-4. Driving in runs that inning were Garret Crews on a single to left, Evan Hafley on a double to left-centerfield and Trace Maddux on a two-run triple to right-centerfield. Maddux would later score himself on a wild pitch.
 
Mason Griffin (Rogers, Ark.) then entered the game for Wonder Boy starter Patrick Miner in the top of the seventh and avoided any damage after issuing a walk and a hit-by-pitch to start his outing. The momentum from Griffin's shutdown inning in relief carried over into the bottom half of the inning as the Wonder Boys scored twice more to take a 10-4 lead. A bases loaded walk to Matt Robbins followed by a single through the left side off the bat of Hafley accounted for the two runs in the inning.
 
The Bison would score a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to bring the game to its final tally of 10-7 in favor of the Wonder Boys. With the game getting close, Nick Kovar came on and nailed down his second save of the season.
 
GAME TWO
After the opening game lasted nearly four hours, the Bison were the first to strike in the nightcap with two runs in the second and three in the third to take a quick 5-0 lead in the seven-inning contest. The Wonder Boys pushed across their first runs of the game in the bottom of the third scoring twice thanks a fielding error by the Bison centerfielder on a Robbins single and then on a RBI double by Hafley to right-centerfield.
 
After neither team scored in the fourth, the Bison tacked on an unearned run in the top of the fifth to take a 6-2 lead.
 
In the bottom of the inning, it looked like the Bison were going to continue to build upon their momentum as the first two Wonder Boys were retired on popups on the infield. A pair of walks followed however and brought Maddux to the plate. Maddux quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, but on the third pitch of the at-bat, he launched a scintillating moon-shot three-run home run out to right-centerfield cutting the Oklahoma Baptist lead down to just a run, 6-5.
 
Shelby Quiggins was then on in relief for the Wonder Boys in the top of the sixth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to get the Wonder Boys back to the plate where they were able to get the potential tying run into scoring position after Drew Bailey reached first base on a throwing error by the Bison catcher following a dropped third strike. Bailey was then moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Kandon Bennett on the very next pitch. Bailey would be stranded at second, however, as the Bison reliever retired the next two batters on strikes.
 
In the top of the seventh a leadoff walk issued by Quiggins was then followed by a spectacular glove-flip to start a 6-4-3 double play triggered by Bailey. Quiggins then struckout the next batter to keep it a one-run game.
 
The Wonder Boys would be unable to mount any threat in the bottom of the seventh as they were retired in order to end the game.