WARRENSBRUG, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team picked up their first win of the 2025 season on Friday as they split the doubleheader at No. 3-ranked Central Missouri. The win for Tech came in the nightcap as they beat UCM 4-3 in 12 innings.
GAME ONE
In the opener, UCM jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two innings of play as they scored four runs in the bottom of the second. Tech would not push across a run until the top of the fourth where they scored four runs to tie the game at four-all.
Tyler Sardelli led the inning off with a hit-by-pitch.
Christian Olea then hit an infield single to short. Two batters later, the bases were loaded with one out on a
Brendyn Bard single to left. A foul out followed the Bard single for the second out and it looked as though the Wonder Boys might have been turned away scoreless in the frame, but
Kirby Jenkins came through with a clutch two-out, two-run single to left to score Sardelli and Olea.
Grant Jones then kept the inning going on a hit-by-pitch, re-loading the bases.
Cole Dawson then came through with a two-run single up the middle to tie the game at four-all.
That tie score did not last long, however, as UCM responded in a major way with a seven-run bottom of the fourth inning. The Mules would go on to add single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to bring the score to its final of 13-4.
GAME TWO
The nightcap was scoreless through two and a half innings before the Mules plated the first run on a solo home run in the bottom of the third. That UCM lead did not last long, however, as Tech responded with two runs on two hits in the top of the fourth.
Sawyer Duddleston led off the inning with a single down the left field line.
Tyler Sardelli then moved Duddleston to third on a double to right field.
The Wonder Boys then pushed across both runs on productive outs as
Kirby Jenkins collected the first RBI on a groundout to short. That was followed by a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of
Brendyn Bard.
Tech would maintain that 2-1 lead until the top of the seventh when they scored a run on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch taken by
Grant Jones.
UCM would score a run in the bottom of the eighth and then scored a run with two outs in the ninth to tie the score and send the game to extra innings.
Neither team scored in the first two extra frames as the game played on into the 12
th. In that 12
th, Jones led off with another HBP. Duddleston then reached first on a throwing error by the Mules' shortstop, which also allowed Jones to take third, putting runners on the corners with no outs.
After the first out was recorded, Duddleston stole second to get out of the double play possibility and put two runners in scoring position. Jenkins then drove Jones in for the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice that did not result in an out. A double play then ended the inning as Tech would carry a one-run lead into the last of the 12
th.
In that bottom of the inning, Wonder Boy reliver
JT Cafferty, who came on in relief to start extra innings in the bottom of the 10
th, wasted little time in retiring the Mules in order to secure the win for the Wonder Boys.
In his 3.0 innings of relief, Cafferty did not allow a hit and struck out three.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys and Mules will conclude their four-game series on Saturday with another doubleheader, which is slated to begin at 1 p.m.
