RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team secured their second-straight conference series victory on Saturday as they split a doubleheader against Southern Arkansas. The Wonder Boys would lose the opener, 9-5, but came back to win the rubber game 6-3.
GAME ONE
The opener got off to a wild start as the Muleriders and Wonder Boys put up crooked numbers in their own halves of the first inning. SAU started things off with a pair of runs on two hits. Tech had an answer of three runs on three hits to give them a 3-2 lead through one.
In that first inning for Tech,
Tyler Sardelli got things going with a one-out walk. Following the second out of the inning,
Kirby Jenkins extended action on a single to left-center.
Cole Dawson then drove in both Sardelli and Jenkins on a RBI triple to right.
Dayton Francis then followed up with a RBI double to right-centerfield.
The Wonder Boys added a run in the third to take a 4-2 lead. That inning saw the Wonder Boys take advantage of a SAU error and score an unearned run.
On the very first pitch of the next half inning, however, SAU got a run closer on a leadoff home run to left. After being retired in order in the fourth, the Wonder Boys got that run back in the fifth and did so by creating pressure on the basepaths. After leading off with a single to centerfield,
Christian Olea went on to steal second and third, which allowed him to score on an infield single to the pitcher by Dawson.
Neither team scored in the sixth, but SAU's offense started to get going in the seventh as they scored three runs to take a 6-5 lead. All three of those runs came with two outs and were in succession on RBI singles.
The Muleriders would go on to score three more runs in the eighth to bring the first game to its final score of 9-5.
GAME TWO
In the second game, the Wonder Boys stranded a leadoff double by SAU in the top of the first and came back to score twice in the bottom of the first. Duddleston started things off with a first-pitch hit-by-pitch. On each of the next pitches, Duddleston was able to take an extra 90-feet on wild pitches from the SAU starter.
Simon Murray then singled home Duddleston and promptly stole second, ending the day for the SAU starter. Olea then singled through the right side to initially move Murray to third, but a misplay by the SAU right fielder, allowed Murray to score and Olea to take second.
SAU responded with three runs on three hits in the top of the second, but Tech did not waste any time in tying the score in the bottom half.
Brendyn Bard was the run that scored as he came all way home on an errant throw by the SAU pitcher on what was a successful bunt single by
Luke Ray. The errant throw is what allowed Bard to score from first after he led the inning off with a walk.
In the fourth, the Wonder Boys broke the tie and scored twice. Bard and Ray were at the forefront of that run-scoring inning as well as both had singles to start the inning. Following their hits, Duddleston drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Murray then drove in Bard on a fielder's choice to second base. The second run scored in the next at-bat on a single to left-center from Olea.
The Wonder Boys would add a run of insurance in the bottom of the sixth as Duddleston scored on a wild pitch. That run brought the game to its final of 6-3.
Helping earn the win for the Wonder Boys was the performances out of the bullpen from
Jonah Prokott and
Cole Dickson. Prokott was first in relief and earned the win as he went 2.1 innings without allowing a run. Prokott would walk two and strikeout two.
Cole Dickson then came on and handled the final three innings. Like Prokott, Dickson would walk two and strikeout out two, but he allowed just one hit en route to earning the save.
NEXT UP
The Wonder Boys are scheduled to play another home game on Tuesday and are set to take on Ouachita Baptist in a non-conference mid-week game. Inclement weather forecast for Russellville on Tuesday will likely result in the game being moved up to Monday, but the final decision has not been made at the moment.
