RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Friday night's Great American Conference game between Arkansas Tech and Ouachita played out the way you would hope a series-opener would with great starting pitching on both sides and the outcome not decided until late.
On this night, the edge went to the Wonder Boys (17-11, 10-9 GAC) as their ace
Patrick Miner out-dueled Cooper Timmons of Ouachita.
Both starters pitched complete games, and at one point had only given up one run through seven innings.
The turning point of the game came in the eighth inning.
In the top of the frame, Ouachita picked up just their fourth hit of the game off of Miner on a well-placed bunt single to first base. Three pitches later, Miner registered his eighth strikeout of the game getting CW Schrader swinging. In the next at-bat, Miner got ahead in the count quickly. With two strikes, the Tigers (18-12, 12-7 GAC) opted to get aggressive on the base path and put the runner in motion. Miner got the batter to swing and miss and the runner was safe at second for a stolen base, but on the swinging strikeout, the batter was called for interference, negating the steal and ending the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, the Wonder Boys put together a rally with consecutive one-out singles through the left side from
Yadier Medina and
Evan Hafley. Both men were pinch-ran for ahead of the at-bat for Sheby Quiggins.
Quiggins was responsible for the lone run to that point of the game as he hammered a solo home run the opposite way out to left-centerfield back in the second inning. Following a lengthy at-bat, Quiggins hit the ball deep enough into right field to allow
Ommar Jackson, who was on to pinch-run for Medina, advance to third with two outs.
Landon Lord, who was pinch-running for Hafley, then stole second base uncontested to put two runners in scoring position.
Kandon Bennett then delivered the go-ahead hit as he laid down a perfectly-placed bunt down the left field line to score Jackson. In a similar situation on the bases during his at-bat, Bennett also stole second base uncontested.
The Wonder Boys then got one more run of insurance on a throwing error by the Tigers' third baseman.
Now pitching with a two-run lead, Miner returned to the mound for the ninth.
He needed just three pitched to retire the first batter on a strikeout and just five more pitches total to retire the side in order and secure the win.
All told, Miner pitched 9.0 innings, scattered four hits, allowed one run, walked one and struck out 10. He also improved to 6-1 on the season and lowered his season ERA to 3.28.
The Wonder Boys and Tigers will now close out their series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. Prior to the twin-bill, the annual Bash at the Ballpark is set to return with family-friendly activities starting at 11 a.m.
