WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team picked up a big in-region win on the road on Sunday as they claimed the series finale against No. 13-ranked Central Missouri, 9-5. The win gave Tech a split in the four-game series at UCM as they won the opener on Friday, 10-8.
Sunday's finale saw the Mules (3-4) score the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. They would keep that one-run lead until the fourth inning as the Wonder Boys (3-4) struck for two runs on one hit while also benefiting from a UCM error.
In that fourth inning,
Sam Stephenson led off with a four-pitch walk, but was quickly erased in the next at-bat as
Cade McBride reached on a fielder's choice.
Sawyer Duddleston then moved McBride to third as he reached on an error by the Mule's third baseman. On that play, Duddleston was able to get to second base.
Nick Jones then drove in both runners with a single through the left side to give Tech a 2-1 lead. UCM answered back with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame to tie the game at 2-all.
The score did not remain tied for long as the Wonder Boys struck for seven runs on five hits in the top of the fifth to take a firm grasp on the game with a seven-run lead, 9-2.
In that inning, the Wonder Boys quickly loaded the bases with no outs.
Brandon Bunton led off with an infield single to third base followed by a single up the middle by
Victor Jimenez.
Brady Prince was then hit-by-a-pitch to load the bases.
UCM got the first out of the inning as Stephenson lined out to second base. A hit-by-pitch to McBride forced in Bunton. Duddleston then cleared the based with a triple to left-centerfield. After a second out in the inning,
Logan Schwenke singled up the middle to score Duddleston. In the next at-bat, Schwenke was able to waltz home as
Keaton Ranallo hammered his first home run as a Wonder Boy out to left-centerfield.
That would be all of the scoring that the Wonder Boys would do in the game, but it proved to be enough for the win. UCM added three runs to their total in the seventh but were shutdown by
Kade Cartwright and
Will Horton in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
The Wonder Boys will now head home to prepare for a potential home-opener on Tuesday afternoon against Arkansas-Monticello. Scheduled first pitch from Baswell Field is scheduled for 3 p.m.
