RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The first Great American Conference series is in the books and the Arkansas Tech baseball team is off to an impressive 3-0 start as they put the finishing touches on a series sweep against Oklahoma Baptist thanks to a pair of thrilling wins across both games of Saturday's doubleheader out at Baswell Field.
GAME ONE
The opening game had the tone set from the start as the Wonder Boys (7-4, 3-0 GAC) jumped all over the Bison (3-6, 0-3 GAC) with a nine-run first inning. That inning saw the Wonder Boys bat around plus five and bang out eight hits while also taking advantage of a Bison error.
The inning got started with a one-out double by
Cade McBride. That was immediately followed with a RBI double off the bat of
Sawyer Duddleston. After a walk to
Yadier Medina,
Logan Schwenke singled home Duddleston. Two infield singles then drove in two more runs as
Keaton Ranallo single to shortstop while
Brandon Bunton beat out a bunt to the pitcher.
Hitting in the No. 8 spot,
Markos Cabranes then doubled in Ranallo.
Shane Poe completed the batting around in the first and singled through the left side to chase home Bunton.
Sam Stephenson then walked in his second plate appearance of the inning to load the bases.
That prompted a pitching change by Oklahoma Baptist, but the runs kept coming for Tech as McBride reached on a fielding error by the Bison pitcher. Duddleston then put the finishing touches on the monster inning with a two-RBI double down the left field line.
Unfortunately, the good times and sizable lead would not last long as the Bison rallied for a big inning of their own in the top of the second as they scored eight runs on five hits while also taking advantage of a Tech error that led to six unearned runs in the inning.
The Wonder Boys and reliever
Marshall Brown were able to escape the inning with the lead intact at 9-8.
The game then settled in as there were no more crooked number frames by either team over the final seven innings.
After managing to not relinquish their lead, the Wonder Boys were able to keep slowly adding to their advantage to keep the Bison at bay.
Those runs of insurance came in the third, fifth and sixth innings. The run in the third was a RBI triple off the bat of Duddleston while the runs in the fifth and sixth were off RBI singles by McBride and Cabranes, respectfully.
Oklahoma Baptist did get one run closer and force the game into a save situation with a solo home run in the top of the eighth off Brown. Outside of that, Brown was spectacular in relief as he racked up nine Ks in 6.2 innings of work en route to the win, his second of the season.
Mason Griffin then came on in the ninth and shut the door on the Bison without giving up a run and striking out two.
GAME TWO
The second game played out much different than any of the first two in the series as it was a genuine pitcher's duel through much of the game as
Emiliano Mata battled with Jake Hamilton.
The two held one another's lineup scoreless through three innings.
Tech was the first to crack the scoreboard as they scored on a muffed catch by the Bison's first baseman that allowed Ranallo to score from second as there were two outs in the inning.
Mata would carry his shutout of the Bison through the entirety of his start as he pitched 5.0 innings before making way for the Tech bullpen after the Wonder Boys put two more runs on the board thanks to a no-doubt two-run home run to left field by Duddleston.
The Bison rallied for two runs in the sixth to make it a one-run game.
Tech turned to its third pitcher of the game and brought on
Will Horton looking to get the final three outs. The first batter Horton faced found a hole through the left side and singled. He was quickly erased, however, as Horton got the next batter to ground into a 3-6 double play.
Now with one more out to get, Oklahoma Baptist kept things very interesting as their next batter doubled right on top of the wall in left-centerfield to put the potential tying run in scoring position and the potential go-ahead run at the plate.
Tech then made one more move to the bullpen and called upon
Gerald Pintarich. Pintarich needed just two pitches to get the game-ending groundball to Stephenson at shortstop.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a big mid-week road test this coming Tuesday as they are set to travel to Magnolia to take on the No. 2-ranked Southern Arkansas Muleriders. First-pitch for the non-conference game is scheduled for 3 p.m.
