RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team bounced back from a game one setback and forced the "If Necessary" game against Oklahoma Baptist as Tech won game two of the series, 13-6. Unfortunately, an early hole in the decisive game was too much to climb out of as Tech ultimately lost that game and the series, ending their run in the 2023 Great American Conference Baseball Tournament.
Despite the loss, the Wonder Boys (32-19) remain hopeful for a potential at-large berth into the upcoming NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament. In the most-recent regional rankings released by the NCAA, the Wonder Boys were fifth. One final ranking release is scheduled to come out this coming Wednesday and the official selections will be made on Sunday, May 14 at 9 p.m. central time.
As it pertained to Saturday afternoon's gauntlet of action, the Wonder Boys and Bison (30-21) combined to score 37 runs on 46 hits over the course of 18 innings.
In the opener, the Wonder Boys had the big offensive output with 13 runs on 11 hits. The big hit in the game came in the bottom of the eighth with Tech up 8-6 when
Nick Jones hit a bases-clearing double to create some breathing room. Later in the inning, the Wonder Boys added two more runs of insurance with a RBI triple by
Logan Schwenke and a RBI groundout by
Brandon Bunton.
That added insurance was all that closer
Mason Griffin needed to put the final touches on the must-win game. Griffin, who earned his eighth save of the season, had previously entered the game an inning earlier and kept it a two-run lead for Tech ahead of their aforementioned big bottom of the eighth inning.
Now in a decisive third game of the series, the Griffin rolled right into the next game and made the start on the mound. Unfortunately, Oklahoma Baptist would push across four unearned runs in the top of the first to grab a foothold in the game.
Tech would score their first run of the game in the third inning on a single by Jones, cutting the deficit down to three runs. Oklahoma Baptist then doubled their lead with three runs in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Wonder Boys would put together a rally and scored a pair of runs on RBIs by
Trevor Martin and
Cade McBride. There was the potential for more in the inning as the bases were loaded with no outs following McBride's RBI knock, but a strikeout and a double-play ended the inning.
After extinguishing that threat, the Bison would add to their lead with two runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and one in the ninth.
Tech would scratch across two runs in their half of the ninth to bring the game to its final score of 13-5.
