ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The No. 1-seeded Arkansas Tech baseball team overcame an early 3-0 deficit and eventually pulled out a 4-3 win over No. 5-seed Arkansas-Monticello in the semifinal round of the 2021 Great American Conference Baseball Tournament on Monday evening at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia.
 
The win advances the Wonder Boys (28-14) to the championship game of the tournament. It will be the first time that Tech will play in the GAC Tournament Championship Game and just the second time since 2001 when they played in the championship game of that year's Gulf South Conference Tournament.
 
Monday night's game got off to inauspicious start for the Wonder Boys as UAM got their bats rolling early and plated three runs on three hits in the top of the first. In that inning, the first two batters for the Boll Weevils (22-18) singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. On the very next pitch following the second single, UAM scored its first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jordan Johnson. One pitch later, suddenly it was a 3-0 game as Dylan Borman belted a two-run home run out to left field.
 
Tech starting pitcher Hayes Cox would eventually work out of the inning without any further damage and in the bottom of the inning, the Wonder Boys would get one of those runs back as Garrett Crews scored on a wild pitch. Earlier in the inning, Crews led off with a double down the right field line.
 
Cox came back out to the mound in the second and retired the first two batters he faced, but once the lineup swung back to the top of the order, UAM put together consecutive singles off of Cox once more. That spelled the end of the outing for Cox as head coach Dave Dawson went to his bullpen for sophomore right-hander Mason Griffin (Rogers, Ark.). Griffin fell behind his first batter 3-0, but battled back to strike him out swinging to escape the second unscathed for the Wonder Boys.
 
Griffin then settled into the game and turned in a yeoman's effort through the eighth inning. In what turned out to be 6.1 innings of work, Griffin scattered five hits, allowed no runs, issued no walks and struck out six batters.
 
With Griffin keeping the potent Boll Weevil bats at bay, the Wonder Boys began to chip away at their deficit.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Josh Detwiler cranked a line drive solo home run out to left field to pull the Wonder Boys with a run, 3-2.
 
Two innings later, the Wonder Boys took advantage of a leadoff walk and an error to knot the score at three-all. Evan Hafley was the batter who drew the leadoff free pass. He was then advanced to third on consecutive infield groundouts. With two outs, Jonathon Arrieta tapped a ball back to the mound, but the chance was botched by the UAM hurler, allowing Arrieta to reach first and Hafley score an unearned run.
 
A half inning later, UAM, at the middle of their order, applied some pressure with a leadoff single, but Griffin induced a double play by the next batter and then picked up a momentum shifting strikeout of Borman to end the inning.
 
In the bottom of the frame, it looked as though the Wonder Boys might go down in order facing a Boll Weevil reliever, but after two quick outs, Crews connected for a go-ahead sole home run to left-centerfield, giving the Wonder Boys their first lead of the game.
 
Griffin then retired the side in order in the top of the eighth to set the stage for the Wonder Boys to possibly add some insurance. In that bottom of the eighth, the Wonder Boys got consecutive singles from Detweiler and Trace Maddux to lead off the frame. Both were then advanced 90-feet on a sacrifice bunt by Arrieta. Despite the prime run-scoring opportunity, the Wonder Boys were unable to push across any insurance runs.
 
The game then moved to the top of the ninth and Dawson turned to his closer Nick Kovar. After working 3.0 innings and picking up the save in Friday night's opening round game against Southwestern Oklahoma, Kovar got ahead of his first batter 0-2, but surrendered a single. That would be the lone blemish off Kovar as he proceeded to retire the next three batters on a flyout, a popup and a foul out.
 
The Wonder Boys now await the winner of No. 3-seed Oklahoma Baptist and No. 7-seed Henderson State, a game currently in progress. Regardless of the opponent for the Wonder Boys, first pitch of the championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.