RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team came back from a seven-run deficit through an inning and a half of play on Monday to pick up the series victory over Southwestern Oklahoma with a 16-15 walk-off win in 10 innings.
SWOSU got out of the gates on fire, scoring five runs on five hits in the top of the first. The Wonder Boys were able to get two of those runs back in their half of the first on a pair of RBI groundouts from
Tyler Sardelli and
Derek Rockett.
A leadoff home run in the top of the second inning sparked a four-run frame for the Bulldogs as they went up by seven runs, 9-2. There was absolutely no quit in the Wonder Boys, however, and the pulled within a run of the lead in the bottom of the inning thanks to six runs on five hits.
Drew Vega led the inning off with an infield single to second.
Zack Burrow followed with a single to right field.
Cole Dawson then laid down a perfectly-placed bunt down the third base line for a hit. On that play, the SWOSU third baseman had an errant throw trying to get Dawson at first. That allowed Vega to score from second, Burrow to make third and Dawson to get to second.
Sardelli then collected his second RBI groundout of the day, grounding out to the shortstop. A walk was issued to
Levi Martin to put runners on the corners for
Derek Rockett. Rockett would single through the right side to chase home Dawson. The big blow in the inning then came in the next at-bat as
Kirby Jenkins hammered a two-RBI triple to right-centerfield.
That prompted a pitching change by SWOSU, but an eighth and final run would be charged to the starter as
Weston Johnston picked up a RBI on a groundout to second base.
The scoring continued for the Bulldogs after they finally got out of the second inning as they scored a pair of runs to go up 11-8.
Neither team scored in their next at-bats, but the Wonder Boys struck for four runs on three hits to grab a 12-11 lead.
Sardelli led that inning off with a single to centerfield
Braden Watkins then came on as a pinch-hitter and drew a four-pitch walk. Rockett singled to shallow left field to load the bases with no outs.
Kirby Jenkins then dropped a RBI single into right field to score Sardelli.
Johnston drove in the second run on a sacrifice fly. That was followed by a groundout RBI by
Brendyn Bard. The fourth run would score on the benefit of fielding error by the SWOSU shortstop.
That lead for the Wonder Boys did not last long as the Bulldogs scored a run in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 12-all.
In the sixth, the Wonder Boys regained the lead on a RBI double to right-centerfield off the bat of Johnston. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs swung the lead back in their favor in the seventh with a pair of runs scoring in the top of the seventh.
After being held scoreless in the bottom of the seventh, the Wonder Boys tied the game at 14-all with a bang in the eighth on a leadoff solo home run from Jenkins.
Neither team would score in the ninth as the game pressed on to extras.
In the top of the 10
th, the Bulldogs cashed in a leadoff hit-by-pitch to go up 15-14. In the bottom of the inning, the Wonder Boys also got their leadoff batter on base as Johnston was also hit-by-a-pitch. After the first out was recorded, Johnston scored the tying run on a double down the left field line off the bat of Vega.
The next two batters also reached base as Burrow was hit-by-a-pitch followed by a walk to Dawson, loading the bases with one out. Sardelli then came to the plate and worked a full-count walk to give the Wonder Boys the improbable victory.
The Wonder Boys will be right back in action at home on Tuesday afternoon, taking on Southern Arkansas in a non-conference game. First-pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Baswell Field.
