MAGNOLIA, Ark. – A mid-week battle between a pair of high-octane offenses made for nearly four hours of edge-of-your-seat entertainment out at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field in Magnolia as Arkansas Tech and No. 2-ranked Southern Arkansas engaged in an old-fashioned aluminum bat slugfest.
The Wonder Boys (8-4) would emerge victorious in the clash as they outlasted the Muleriders (7-3) 16-15. All told, Tech and SAU would combine for 31 runs on 27 hits. Of the 27 combined hits, 11 went for extra bases with six of those leaving the ballpark.
Tech jumpstarted the offensive fireworks in the top of the first inning as
Sam Stephenson deposited the very first pitch of the game out to left-centerfield. The Wonder Boys then struck for four runs in the top of the second to race out to a 5-0 lead.
The first two runs in that second inning were also solo home runs as
Logan Schwenke and
Keaton Ranallo went back-to-back to start the frame. Later in the inning,
Brandon Bunton scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Cade McBride while
Yadier Medina drew a bases loaded walk to force home
Markos Cabranes.
SAU answered in a major way in their half of the second inning as they scored nine runs on six hits to take a 9-5 lead. The Muleriders then added to their lead with two more runs in the bottom of the third.
Tech got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth as Medina doubled home recently named GAC Player of the Week
Sawyer Duddleston. Single runs by the Muleriders in the fourth and fifth innings put SAU up by seven runs, 13-6.
In the sixth, Duddleston singled up the middle to score Stephenson, who singled earlier in the inning.
Now down six runs, the Wonder Boys got a quick inning in the bottom of the sixth which paved the way for a monster eight-run seventh that saw Tech slingshot back in the lead, 15-13.
That inning was aided in a major way by a costly two-out fielding error by the SAU third baseman. Tech had scored one run prior to the miscue and were likely going to be turned away without any more runs without the benefit of the error.
Counting the run that scored that on the error, the Wonder Boys would score seven unearned runs in the seventh. The biggest blow in that sequence was a grand slam out to left field off the bat of Ranallo for his second big fly of the game.
As they did before, SAU had an answer in their next trips to the plate as they scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score at 15-all.
Somehow neither team scored in the eighth, sending the back-and-forth bash to the ninth.
In the top of the ninth Duddleston got things going with one out as he singled to center. A fielding error by the SAU left fielder then allowed
Nick Jones to reach and take second while Duddleston took third. That proved to be significant as the Muleriders uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Duddleston to score the go-ahead run. Tech then loaded the bases with one out, but no further runs would come across, leaving it a one-run run lead to protect in the ninth.
On came
Mason Griffin from the bullpen for the potential save. The junior right-hander was nails in the inning and registered three strikeouts, all looking to preserve the win.
The Wonder Boys will now turn their attention toward another GAC weekend series. This time, the Wonder Boys will be on the road at Southern Nazarene. As of now, the three-game series is slated to begin at 2 p.m. from Bethany, Okla.
