ADA, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team put the finishing touches on a three-game series sweep of East Central as they scored a combined 30 runs across both ends of Saturday's doubleheader to rout ECU on the road.
GAME ONE
The opening game saw the Wonder Boys (26-16, 19-8 GAC) score two-thirds of their runs on the day as they crossed the plate 20 times on the strength of 19 hits. All of that offensive firepower did not really get going until the fourth inning as Tech was held scoreless and trailed ECU 2-0 through the first three innings of play.
In the top of the fourth, the Wonder Boys scored eight runs on five hits while also benefiting from six extra baserunners on a mixture of walks, hit-by-pitch and errors committed by the Tigers (8-34, 3-24 GAC).
Sam Stephenson led off the inning with a walk and was followed by a hit-by-pitch to
Sawyer Duddleston.
Nick Jones then advanced the two 90-feet on a successful sacrifice bunt.
Keaton Ranallo then drove in Tech's first run on a double to centerfield. One batter later,
Logan Schwenke hit his second home run of the series as he deposited a three-run homer.
Following Schwenke's blast, ECU went to their bullpen where matters did not get any better.
Brandon Bunton was the first to face the reliever and reached on an error. Two batters later, Bunton scored on a RBI triple by
Shane Poe.
Cade McBride then drove in Poe as he reached third on an error by the ECU right fielder. Stephenson followed with a RBI single to right field. After Duddleston drew a walk, Jones hit an infield single to drive in Stephenson for Tech's eight run of the inning.
ECU was able to get one of those runs back in their half of the fourth, but Tech continued to pile on with two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and nine in the seventh.
The runs in the fifth scored on singled by Poe and Stephenson while the run in the sixth came home on a RBI single by
Ommar Jackson.
Five of the nine runs scored by Tech in the seventh scored without the benefit of a hit as Yadier Media and
Brady Prince collected RBIs on bases loaded walks while
Trevor Martin and Duddleston drove in runs on HBPs and
Victor Jimenez got his RBI on a sacrifice fly. Tech did get three RBI knocks in the inning with Stephenson,
Ty Gordon and
Jared Beam singling in runs.
ECU was able to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough to keep the game from ending early via run rule.
GAME TWO
The final game of the day and the series saw the Wonder Boys race out to another big lead as they scored seven runs in the top of the second inning.
In that inning, Ranallo led off with a double. Two batters later, Bunton drove him home on a single to left. After a steal of second by Bunton,
Markos Cabranes drew walk. Both he and Bunton then advanced 90-feet on a wild pitch before scoring during the
Luke Ray at-bat as he reached on a error by the ECU second baseman.
Following a bunt single by McBride, Stephenson walked to load the bases. Duddleston then drove in a pair on a single to center. Two batter later, Ranallo came back to the plate for the second time in the inning and drove in two on a single to center.
The Tigers managed to score a run in the bottom of the frame to make it 7-1.
After not scoring in the third, Tech got back at it with two runs in the top of the fourth to go up 9-1. ECU scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, to make it a 9-3 game. The Wonder Boys tacked on their 10
th and final run of the game in the top of the sixth, while ECU plated the game's final run in the bottom of the seventh.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys will now return home for a pivotal weekend series against Southeastern Oklahoma. The three-game set is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 21 and conclude with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
