WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team came out strong in their opening game of the 2025 Central Region Tournament on Thursday night as they scored 14 runs on 14 hits to power past No. 4-seed Central Oklahoma, 14-8.
After a relatively uneventful scoreless first inning, the Wonder Boys put together a six-run rally with two outs in the top of the second.
Christian Olea led the inning off with a double, but the next two Wonder Boys were retired, threatening to keep the Wonder Boys scoreless for a second-straight frame.
That second inning would continue, however, with three-straight free passes given up by the Bronchos. The first was a walk to
Simon Murray while the second was a hit-by-pitch taken by
Luke Ray that loaded the bases.
Grant Jones then drew a walk to force home Olea for the first run.
Tyler Sardelli then had infield single to short that scored Murray and kept the line moving.
Cole Dawson then drove in a pair as he singled to center.
Kirby Jenkins then capped the scoring for the Wonder Boys in the inning as he doubled home two.
The Bronchos pushed across their first run of the game in the third, but in the top of the fourth, the Wonder Boys' offense was back at it, scoring five runs on seven hits in the inning to go up by 10, 11-1.
Jenkins was the start of the inning as he hit his second double of the game. Olea then moved him to third on a sac bunt.
Sawyer Duddleston chased home Jenkins in the next at-bat with a single through the left side. The next batter was retired on one pitch for the second out, but again, the Wonder Boys would rally with two outs.
This time, Tech used death by 1,000 papercuts as they registered five-straight singles. The final four of those all scored runs as Ray, Jones, Sardelli and Dawson had RBI knocks in the inning.
UCO was able to match that five-run fifth by the Wonder Boys with five runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, to make it a five-run game again, 11-6. All but one of those runs in the inning were unearned.
In the next half inning, the Wonder Boys got even more two-out magic as Jones cleared the bases with two outs on a triple to right-centerfield. That pushed Tech's lead out to eight runs, 14-6. The Wonder Boys would be held scoreless the rest of the game while UCO scored a pair of runs in the seventh to bring the score to its eventual final of 14-8.
The Wonder Boys now advance to the winner's bracket final on Friday where they will take on No. 1-seed and host, Central Missouri. The Mules out-lasted No. 8-seed Harding in the first game of the day, winning 8-7 in 12 innings.
