CLINTON, Miss. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team won its fourth-straight mid-week game of the year and their second while on the road as they defeated Mississippi College by a score of 12-5 on Tuesday afternoon.
The 12-run output by the Wonder Boys (15-5) marked the 11
th time this season that they have scored 10 or more runs. They have also done so in seven of their last nine games, averaging 15.7 runs per game in those seven games.
Tuesday's scoring got started for the Wonder Boys in the top of the third inning when they scored five runs on five hits, while also being aided by a Mississippi College error.
Markos Cabranes, who was the offensive hero with a pair of grand slams in Tech's epic double-digit comeback against Henderson State this past Sunday, led the inning off with a full-count hit-by-pitch.
Luke Ray then singled down the left field line to push Cabranes to second. The Wonder Boys then applied the pressure on the MC defense as
Cade McBride laid down a successful sacrifice bunt, but was able to reach base as the Choctaws' (6-13) pitcher three the ball away. That errant throw allowed Cabranes to score, Ray to take third and McBride to reach second.
Shane Poe then singled up the middle to score both Ray and McBride and make it a 3-0 lead for the Wonder Boys. Two batters later, the bases were loaded with no outs as
Sawyer Duddleston had a bunt single followed by a single to right by
Nick Jones. The fourth run of the inning then scored as
Keaton Ranallo hit an infield fly to second base, but Poe was able to score.
After the second out of the inning was made, the Wonder Boys tacked on the fifth run on an infield single to shortstop off the bat of
Brandon Bunton.
Still holding the Choctaws off the scoreboard, the Wonder Boys got back to work offensively in the fourth. That inning Tech loaded the bases again and scored twice without the benefit of a hit as
Ty Gordon was hit-by-a-pitch for a RBI while Bunton followed with a walk.
The lead grew to 8-0 in the top of the fifth as Poe collected his third RBI of the game with another single up the middle. This time, it scored just McBride as he walked earlier in the inning.
Mississippi College broke through their scoring efforts in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs to make it 8-2. The Wonder Boys did have to use three pitchers in the inning with
Will Horton getting out of the inning and limiting the damage to just two runs.
Horton would go on to log 4.0 innings of work in relief and earned the win, his second of the season.
That 8-2 score held over the next two innings until the Wonder Boys scored twice in the top of the eighth. Gordon was responsible for the first run to cross the plate in the eighth as he tripled to right-centerfield, scoring Ranallo, who singled to left in his at-bat. Later in the inning, McBride picked up an infield single with the bases loaded to drive in Gordon.
The Choctaws struck for three runs in the bottom of the inning on the strength of a two-out three-run home run. Tech got two of those runs back in the top of the ninth, however, to bring the score to its final of 12-5. In that ninth inning, Jones scored and Ranallo scored unearned runs with Jones scoring on a fielder's choice by Gordon and Ranallo on a sacrifice fly by Cabranes.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a road series over the weekend as they are scheduled to travel to Arkadelphia to take on Ouachita. The series is slated to begin with a single game at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 10. The doubleheader is scheduled to be played on Saturday starting at Noon.
