HOUSTON, Texas – Coming off a big 5-0 win over (RV) Chico State in their season-opener on Friday, the Arkansas Tech baseball team had a big opportunity ahead of them on Saturday night as they took on top-ranked North Greenville under the bright lights of Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.
Despite the final result of an 11-9 comeback win for North Greenville, the Wonder Boys (1-1) were more than up for the challenge and that was made clear from the outset.
In the first inning, the Wonder Boys landed the first blow in the game as
Logan Schwenke deposited a grand slam into the Crawford Boxes in left field. It was his first homer of the season and his second at Minute Maid Park as he went deep last season against Maryville. Ahead of the Schwenke slam were walks to
Sam Stephenson and
Keaton Ranallo while
Sawyer Duddleston reached on fielding error by the NGU third baseman.
The Crusaders (2-0) answered back in their first trip to the plate with a three-run home run by their cleanup hitter Marek Chulup. Tech starter
Emiliano Mata did well in bouncing back from that and got a pair of ground outs to get out of the inning with the lead intact.
Neither team scored over the next three innings, but Tech hung another crooked number in the top of the fifth.
In that inning, Duddleston hit a one-out single and then got into scoring position on a hit-by-pitch to
Yadier Medina. Ranallo then drove in Duddleston on a single through the left side. The Wonder Boys then pushed the tempo and put Ranallo in motion attempting to steal second. On his attempt, the ball was errantly thrown into centerfield, allowing Medina to motor around home for the second run of the inning. Schwenke then capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly out to right field.
Like they did in the first when Tech scored, the Crusaders had some form of an answer in the bottom of the frame. This time, they scored a pair of runs on four hits to make it a 7-5 game. That inning very well could have yielded more runs for the Crusaders, but Medina was heads up and threw out a runner, who was trying to stretch a single, at second to end the inning.
In the sixth, the Wonder Boys got back to scoring as they were able to take advantage of a pair of walks to begin the inning. The two walks were drawn by
Markos Cabranes and
Nick Jones. Following a fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt attempt, Stephenson drove in both runners with a wall-banging double in deep left-centerfield, giving the Wonder Boys a four-run lead back.
North Greenville cut the deficit in half over the next two innings with a run in the sixth and seventh innings.
In the eighth, the Crusaders completed their comeback with four runs as they took an 11-9 lead. The go-ahead hit which scored two runs came as a result of a tough last moment hop on a groundball to shortstop as it shot up and over into left field, scoring the two runs.
The Wonder Boys would not go quietly in the ninth as Renallo led off with a single to bring the tying run to the plate. Two batters later, the Wonder Boys had the tying run on base as
Cade McBride reached on a fielding error by the Crusader's second baseman. NGU would escape the threat with consecutive strikeouts to end the game.
The Wonder Boys will now turn their attention to their final opponent in the Houston Winter Classic, Montevallo. The two are scheduled to take on one another on Sunday night with a scheduled first-pitch time of 5 p.m.
