SHAWNEE, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team dropped both ends of Saturday's doubleheader on the road at Oklahoma Baptist. Tech lost game one, 7-4, and game two, 2-1 in eight innings.
GAME ONE
In the opener, the Wonder Boys (15-11, 9-9 GAC) took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. That inning began with
Evan Hafley and
Shelby Quiggins reaching base without the benefit of a hit as Hafley was hit-by-a-pitch to lead off which was then followed by a walk to Quiggins. In the next at-bat, however, Oklahoma Baptist turned a 4-6-3 double play.
Sam Stephenson walked to extend the inning. On the very next pitch following the walk to Stephenson,
Ommar Jackson singled into right field to score Hafley from third. Not long into the ensuing at-bat, Kandon Bennet also singled to right, scoring Stephenson.
The Bison (14-13, 10-8 GAC) answered right back in the bottom of the inning with two runs of the own to tie the game. That inning saw Oklahoma Baptist rattle off three-straight hits to begin the inning, but the damage was minimized thanks to a 4-6-3 double play and a strikeout swinging.
Oklahoma Baptist went back at offensively in the third, however, and scored four runs on four hits while also taking advantage of two Tech errors.
The Wonder Boys got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth on a RBI infield single by Bennett that scored
Carter Thessing. Earlier in the inning, Thessing drew a one-out walk.
In the bottom of the fourth, Oklahoma Baptist plated another run on a two-out solo homer. A half inning later, Quiggins connected for a two-out solo home run himself as he hit one out to centerfield. Quiggins is now tied for the team-lead in home runs with seven.
That ended up being the last run scored in the game on either side as the opening game went on to end 7-4 in favor of Oklahoma Baptist.
GAME TWO
The second game of the doubleheader was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel between
Shane Scott of Tech and Will Duncan of Oklahoma Baptist. Both pitchers held their opponent off the scoreboard through the first three innings.
The Bison were the first to break through with a single run in the bottom of the fourth. The Wonder Boys, on the other end, were held scoreless until the top of the sixth when
Stormy Taylor pinch-hit and drove in Maddux on a single to right field.
That score held through the seventh inning as the finale went into extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, the Wonder Boys would load the bases with two outs, but the Bison were able to escape without allowing a run thanks to a fielder's choice that ended the frame.
Oklahoma Baptist came out in the bottom of the frame with a first-pitch single to left field. The Bison then moved the potential winning run to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Ty Van Meter, who came on in relief for the bottom of the sixth induced a ground ball to second base for the second out of the inning. On that play, however, the potential winning run moved over to third.
The Wonder Boys then issued an intentional walk to work around the hot bat of Dan Pruitt. In the ensuing at-bat, Van Meter got a ground ball that could have resulted in the final out of the inning, but a misplay on the chance resulted in an error and a walk-off win for the Bison.
Despite the loss, the Wonder Boys got great pitching efforts from Scott and Van Meter.
Scott got the start and pitched 5.0 innings. He allowed five hits, one run, walked none and struck out seven. Van Meter handled the next 2.2 innings and allowed just two hits, one run (unearned), walked one and struck out five.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys will head home and look to regroup for their mid-week clash with top-10 ranked Southern Arkansas. The game is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 29 with a 3 p.m. start time.
