RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team bounced back from a tough weekend out on the road and were impressive in their Tuesday afternoon game at home against No. 8-ranked Southern Arkansas, earning an 11-8 win over SAU.
In the game, Tech found themselves down early as the Muleriders (23-5) scored three runs in the top of the second inning. The Wonder Boys (16-11) got two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, however, and trailed by a run through two innings of play.
Ty Van Meter led off that second inning with a single up the middle. Following a lineup,
Logan Schwenke walked. During the ensuing at-bat, Van Meter and Schwenke advanced 90-feet on a wild pitch.
Carter Thessing then drove in Tech's first run on a groundout to third base. A batter later,
Sawyer Duddleston singled to left to score Schwenke.
The next three half innings were uneventful, but in the bottom of the fourth, the Wonder Boys' bats came alive as they scored four runs on five hits. All four of those runs and all but one of the hits came with two outs in the inning.
In that frame, Van Meter had a one-out single that was in-between a pair of strikeouts of Wonder Boy hitters. Following the second of those strikeouts, the Wonder Boys turned to their bench for
Shelby Quiggins to appear as a pinch-hitter. Quiggins would single to right, moving Van Meter to second. Thessing then hit a wall-banging double to chase home Van Meter and Quiggins.
The Thessing double was the first of what ended up being three-straight doubles for the Wonder Boys as Duddleston doubled home Thessing in the very next at-bat. Duddleston was then driven in on a double down the left field line off the bat of
Sam Stephenson.
Suddenly in the blink of an eye, Tech led 6-3.
The Wonder Boys then went on down the line in their bullpen and called upon
Marshall Brown to start the top of the fifth.
The redshirt freshman right-hander was spectacular in relief as he pitched 3.0 shutout innings with just one hit allowed while striking out two. With Brown holding down the high-powered SAU lineup, the Wonder Boys continued to score runs with two coming across in both the fifth and sixth innings, giving Tech a 10-3 lead.
The runs in the fifth scored on a RBI single to right-centerfield off the bat of
Kandon Bennett while the second was scored by Bennett on a RBI double by Thessing. In the sixth,
Evan Hafley hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Later that inning, Bennett laid down a RBI bunt single.
The Muleriders plated a pair of runs in the top of the eighth on a two-run home run, making it a 10-5 game. Tech got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame on a sacrifice fly by Quiggins.
SAU rallied for three more runs in the top of the ninth to bring the score to its eventual final of 11-8. Quiggins recorded the final three outs in the ninth.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to stay at home for the weekend as they welcome in upstart Ouachita for a three-game series. The first game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start on Friday, April 1. The following day is Bash at the Ballpark and the doubleheader will start at 1 p.m.
