BETHANY, Okla. – Behind a brilliant outing on the mound by
John Gray, the Arkansas Tech baseball team shutout Southern Nazarene 4-0 in the series-opening game on Friday afternoon.
Gray, a senior right-hander from Youngsville, La. would pitch the entirety of the game and went just two batters overt the minimum as he faced 29 batters. In the start, Gray allowed just two hits (both singles) with no walks and three strikeouts.
He would be backed up offensively by four runs on five hits from his offense.
The first run came in the top of the third inning when
Tyler Sardelli hit a solo home run. In the fourth, the Wonder Boys scored the second run on a sac fly from
Brendyn Bard that scored
Christian Olea.
In the fifth, the Wonder Boys scored twice on just one hit and benefited from a SNU error. The hit came from
Luke Ray and was a one-out double down the left field line. Sardelli then followed with a walk. Ray would score in the next at-bat as
Cole Dawson reached first on a fielder's choice to short. On that play, the SNU shortstop threw the ball away, allowing Sardelli to get to third and Ray to score.
A batter later,
Simon Murray had a productive out with a RBI groundout to drive in Sardelli.
There would be only one hit combined the rest of the game.
The Wonder Boys and Crimson Storm will prepare to play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
