NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The No. 2-seed Arkansas Tech baseball team faced elimination from the 2024 Great American Conference Tournament twice on Friday and emerged victorious in each game to survive and advance to the championship game on Saturday against top-seeded Arkansas-Monticello.
Tech's first elimination game victory came in 10 innings against No. 5-seeded Southern Arkansas. The Wonder Boys then turned around about 40 minutes later and shutout No. 3-seed Harding, 5-0. Saturday's game against UAM will be the first meeting of the tournament for the Wonder Boys against the Boll Weevils.
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
In the game against SAU, the Wonder Boys scored first with a single run in the bottom of the first on a RBI single from
Christian Olea. They would go on to score single runs in each of the next two innings to take a 3-0 lead over the Muleriders.
SAU finally broke through on the scoreboard in the fifth and pulled within a run with a run in the sixth. By the eighth inning, the Muleriders had managed to tie the game at three-all on a solo home run out to left field.
Neither team would score in the ninth as the game played on into extra innings.
In the top of the 10
th, the Muleriders were retired in order, sending the game to the bottom of the frame. In that part of the inning,
Nick Jones would get things going with a one-out single to centerfield. Olea then drew walk to push Jones into scoring position. Once at second, Jones was pinch-ran for by
Aaron Hogue.
The Muleriders then went to the bullpen, but the Wonder Boys would load the bases immediately on a single through the right side by
Keaton Ranallo. With the potential winning run at third and one out, the Muleriders made a defensive change in centerfield and brought him in as the fifth infielder as well as a pitching change.
On the first pitch after the changes,
Brendyn Bard hit a sinking line drive to right field that fell just under the glove of the SAU right fielder for the game-winning hit.
HARDING
The momentum of that walk-off win carried over into the second elimination game of the day for the Wonder Boys as they once again jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first. This time it was
Nick Jones who singled to left to drive in his brother
Grant Jones, who had a one-out hustle double earlier in the inning.
The Jones brothers then combined to score the Wonder Boys' second run as N. Jones drove in G. Jones on a groundout to shortstop. This time, G. Jones led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a balk before being driven in by N. Jones.
That score held all the way until the bottom of the seventh inning as Tech starting pitcher,
Jack Rector turned in his best outing of the season as he held Harding scoreless over those seven innings and scattered four hits, all singles.
After Rector had gotten through the top of the seventh with no runs allowed, the Wonder Boys offense came alive in the bottom half as they scored three runs on three hits to give them a little more breathing room.
Now leading 5-0, the Wonder Boys turned to their bullpen for go-to reliever
Will Horton. Horton, who had pitched in relief in both of Tech's games in the tournament to that point, and got the win against SAU, was on again to start the eighth inning.
That decision to bring him back in proved to be the right one as Horton preserved the shutout and allowed one hit and struck out three.
