RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team got their weekend series at home against Southwestern Oklahoma off to a great start as they won the opener on Friday night, 7-1.
In the opener, the Wonder Boys got things going early and scored twice in the bottom of the first. In the half inning prior, Tech starter
John Gray worked through a laborious frame, but did not allow a run to score thanks, in part, to a big strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play that negated a leadoff walk.
Starting things for the Wonder Boys
Nick Jones as he singled through the left side. Two pitches later, the bases were loaded as
Shane Poe hit a single up the middle followed by hit-by-pitch to
Logan Schwenke.
Christian Olea then drove in the two runs on a single to left-centerfield.
Keaton Ranallo then drew a walk to re-load the bases with still one out.
The Bulldogs would limit the damage to just the two runs as they induced an inning-ending double play in the next at-bat.
After not scoring in the second, the Wonder Boys were back at it in the third and plated two more runs. In that inning,
Brendyn Bard had the big hit as he delivered a two-RBI double to left field, scoring Poe and Olea, who both singled earlier in the inning.
An inning later, the Wonder Boys pushed their lead out to 7-0 with a three-run inning. The first two runs of that frame came on the strength of an opposite field two-run home run off the bat of Schwenke. Ranallo then followed two batters later with a RBI double to left-centerfield.
Staked to a 7-0 lead, Gray would pitch through the fifth inning to put himself in line for the win before handing the ball over to the Tech bullpen.
A total of three pitchers would handle the final four innings for the Wonder Boys as
Mason Willis pitched the sixth and seventh,
Will Horton the eighth and
Jackson Sorey the ninth.
SWOSU would manage to push across a run in the eighth to draw the score to its final of 7-1.
The Wonder Boys and Bulldogs will conclude their weekend series on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1 p.m. from Baswell Field.
