BETHANY, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team split their doubleheader against Southern Nazarene on Saturday, winning the opener 15-3 in seven innings and dropping the nightcap 10-1. The decisive third and final game of the series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
GAME ONE
In the opener, the Wonder Boys (9-5, 4-1 GAC) were the first to crack the scoreboard and did so with six runs in the top of the second inning. In that frame, the Wonder Boys scored their six runs on four hits while also taking advantage of a Southern Nazarene error.
Markos Cabranes got things rolling in the inning with a one-out single up the middle. He later got to second on a wild pitch, but would have gotten their regardless as
Shane Poe drew a walk.
Sam Stephenson then singled through the right side to load the bases with one out.
Cade McBride then drove in the first two runs on a single through the left side.
Two batters later, the Wonder Boys loaded the bases again as
Yadier Medina drew a walk.
Logan Schwenke then picked up a RBI the hard way as he was hit-by-a-pitch to force home Stephenson.
Keaton Ranallo then reached on a fielding error by the SNU left fielder, and on that play, McBride and Medina scored.
Brandon Bunton then drove in the sixth run of the inning on a single to left.
SNU got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, but the Wonder Boys matched their six-run second with a six-run third to race out to a 12-1 lead.
In the third, the first four batters all drew walks with
Sawyer Duddleston getting the RBI as his walk came with the bases loaded.
Nick Jones then pinch-hit and doubled home two runs. That was followed with a RBI double by Schwenke and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ranallo.
Neither team scored in the fourth and fifth innings and then traded runs in the sixth to keep it an 11-run advantage for the Wonder Boys.
In the top of the seventh, the Wonder Boys added two runs of insurance for their eventual run-rule win as
Ty Gordon hit his first home run, a two-run shot, as a Wonder Boy out to right field.
All of the offense by the Wonder Boys was in support of starter
John Gray. The current NCBWA Central Region Pitcher of the Week picked up his second win of the season as he pitched 5.0 innings of two-hit baseball. Gray would allow one run, walk two and strikeout three.
Kade Cartwright handled the last two innings and allowed one run on two hits. He would walk none and strike out three.
GAME TWO
In the nightcap, the Crimson Storm (4-8, 2-3 GAC) were first to strike as they took advantage of a pair of Tech miscues in the bottom of the first inning which led to a run for SNU. The Crimson Storm then scored twice in the second to take a 3-0 lead in the scheduled seven-inning game.
The Wonder Boys would score their lone of the game in the top of the third as McBride hit an infield single to third to score Stephenson, who tripled in the previous at-bat.
The Crimson Storm would go on score twice in the fifth and five runs in the sixth to bring the score to its final of 10-1.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys and Crimson Storm will now decide the winner of the series on Sunday as the rubber game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first-pitch.
