RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team put the finishing touches on a series sweep over Northwestern Oklahoma with a 7-4 win in the finale on Monday afternoon.
The game started out as pitcher's duel as neither team scored through the first three innings. The Wonder Boys were the first to crack the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI single to left field from
Christian Olea. Scoring on the play was
Sawyer Duddleston, who led the inning off with a hit-by-pitch on the first pitch he saw.
That 1-0 lead would hold until the top of the sixth when Northwestern Oklahoma scored twice on three hits while also benefitting from a Tech error to go up 2-1.
The Wonder Boys threatened in their half of the sixth, but stranded two runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the seventh, however, the Wonder Boys were able to put together a rally and scored three runs on two hits to go up 4-2.
That inning started to gain momentum on consecutive one-out walks drawn by
Dayton Francis and
Kirby Jenkins. After the initial walk to Francis, the Wonder Boys pinch-ran
Grant Jones. With Jones now at second on the Jenkins walk, he was able to score easily in the next at-bat on a single through the left side by
Joe Kinneberg.
Luke Ray then drove in the second run of the frame on a single to centerfield.
A fielder's choice in the next at-bat put runners on the corners two outs. The Wonder Boys then executed a perfect double steal to score a run as Duddleston got in the run down long enough between first and second for Kinneberg to score.
In the eighth, NWOSU continued to apply pressure and had the bases loaded again with no outs following two walks and a double. Reliver
Turner Seelinger got a massive double play in that spot to keep the Rangers off the board as the twin-killing went 3-2. Seelinger then got out of the inning completely unscathed on a groundout to short.
Riding the momentum of that shutdown inning, the Wonder Boys would come back in their half of the eighth and plated three more runs to push their lead out to five runs, 7-2. The first two runs of the frame were emphatically scored on a monster two-run home run by
Simon Murray. Later in the inning,
Brendyn Bard singled home
Cole Dawson for the third run.
Those insurance runs in the eighth proved to be very beneficial as again Northwestern Oklahoma had a rally in them and loaded the bases with no outs. It was the third time in four innings and a second-straight inning that the Rangers had that kind of a threat.
With the bases loaded, NWOSU scored twice on productive outs, but were caught looking at strikes to end the game.
The Wonder Boys will now have a quick turnaround and will right back on the diamond on Tuesday night as they will be on the road at Harding. The primetime game will be a non-conference game.
