WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The all-time winningest coach in Arkansas Tech baseball history added another milestone his remarkable career on Friday afternoon as
Dave Dawson won his 500
th career game as a college baseball head coach. The milestone victory saw Tech beat No. 13-ranked Central Missouri, 10-8, on their home field.
Serving as head coach at Tech since 2010, Dawson has tallied 382 of those wins as the skipper of the Wonder Boys (2-2).
On Friday, Dawson's Wonder Boys got off to a quick start with a three-run top of the first inning. That frame saw
Sawyer Duddleston score on a RBI double to right-centerfield off the bat of
Keaton Ranallo. A batter later,
Yadier Medina, who was hit-by-a-pitch in the at-bat prior to Ranallo, scored on a passed ball.
After a single to right field by
Logan Schwenke,
Cade McBride drove in Tech's third run on a sacrifice fly, scoring Ranallo.
Central Missouri (1-3) answered back in the bottom of the inning with a trio of home runs to swing them in the lead, 4-3. The first of the homers was a two-run shot while the other two were solo jobs.
The Wonder Boys went quietly in the second and UCM continued to put runs on the board with another four-run inning in their half of the inning. Before the end of the inning,
Marshall Brown came on in relief and got the final out of the inning.
Brown would go on to settle the game down on the mound for the Wonder Boys and pitched the next five innings without giving up a run.
The quality relief pitching from Brown helped the Wonder Boys work their way back into the game.
The Wonder Boys would score single runs in the third and fourth innings to pull within three runs, 8-5. The run in the third scored Duddleston on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Medina. Duddleston previously tripled to lead off the inning. In the fourth,
Nick Jones connected for his first collegiate home run, a sole shot to right-centerfield.
An inning later, the Wonder Boys put together a four-run inning of their own to reclaim the lead.
That fifth inning started with a single by Ranallo. Two batters later, McBride hit an infield single to third. The Mules then botched a potential double play during the
Markos Cabranes at-bat, allowing Ranallo to score, McBride to take third and Cabranes to reach second.
McBride then scored on a wild pitch during the Jones at-bat. Jones later walked to put runners on the corners and one out.
Shane Poe then laid down a successful safety squeeze sacrifice bunt that scored Cabranes. A batter later,
Sam Stephenson singled home Jones on a base hit to center.
With Brown still on the mound, the Wonder Boys started to retire the Mules in order.
After a leadoff walk was erased on a double play in the bottom of the fifth, the Mules' next seven batters would be retired taking the game to the bottom of the eighth.
UCM would register a pair of singles off of Brown to start the eighth and that prompted the Wonder Boys to turn to the bullpen and lefty
Will Horton.
Horton would not allow those two inherited runners score as he retired the three batters he faced, ending the inning with a swinging strikeout.
The Wonder Boys would add a run of insurance in the top of the ninth as
Aaron Hogue, who came on to pinch-run for Jones, who singled to lead off the inning, was driven in on a RBI single through the left side by Medina.
The ball was then turned over to
Mason Griffin for the bottom of the ninth. The junior right-hander wasted little time in retiring the Mules in order to secure the win as he needed just 11 pitches.
The Wonder Boys and Mules will resume their four-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at Noon. The first game will be a seven-inning game with the second a normal nine-inning contest.
