MONTICELLO, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team played its first mid-week game of the season on Tuesday with a road at Arkansas-Monticello for a non-conference affair. Tech would score four runs across the seventh and eighth innings to propel them to a 5-2 win.
The Boll Weevils got on the board first with a solo home run in the bottom of the first. Tech answered back with a run in the top of the third. That inning started with a hit-by-pitch to
Drew Vega and a walk to
Tyler Sardelli.
Cole Dawson then sacrificed his at-bat with a bunt to move them to second and third. That allowed for Jenkins to drive in the run on a groundout to first base.
The game held as a 1-1 stalemate until the bottom of the sixth when UAM hit a second solo home run. A half inning later, however, the Wonder Boys tied the game up again, this time on RBI groundout by
Tommy Caya.
Zack Burrow led the inning off with a single up the middle. He then moved himself into scoring position on a stolen base. A groundout to second base moved him to third, positioning him for Caya's RBI ground out.
After the game was tied up, the Wonder Boys brought on
Ashton Greenlee as their second reliever. Greenlee made quick work of the Boll Weevils in the bottom of the seventh and struck out two in a perfect inning.
The Wonder Boys then immediately took the lead as Dawson hit a leadoff home run to left-centerfield. Jenkins then followed with a single and after the first out was made, he was moved to third on a double from
Derek Rockett. Burrow then hit a sac fly to right field, scoring Jenkins. The third and final run scored as
Weston Johnston reached on a throwing error by the UAM third baseman.
Greenlee would go on to pitch the final two innings and allowed just two baserunners and ran his strikeout total to four as he secured the win for himself and the Wonder Boys.
Tech will now prepare to make their home debut while also opening the Great American Conference schedule. They will take on Southwestern Oklahoma in a three-game series that will now start with a doubleheader on Sunday starting at 2 p.m. and concluding with a single-game on Monday at 1 p.m.
