HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trailing by a run heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Arkansas Tech baseball team came away with a walk-off win as they scored a pair of runs on an errant throw from the Northwestern Oklahoma shortstop.
The thrilling win completed a clean sweep through bracket two for the Wonder Boys and as Tech beat No. 7-seed Ouachita Baptist, 6-3 on Thursday, No. 3-seed Harding, 6-4 on Friday and now No. 6-seed Northwestern Oklahoma, 3-2 on Saturday/Sunday.
Now, as the highest remaining seed, the Wonder Boys will have the opportunity to play the best-of-three series for the 2026 Great American Conference Championship Tournament at home next weekend. Their opponent in the championship series will be No. 8-seed East Central as the Tigers also swept through their bracket.
The Tigers' road to the championship series saw them upset top-seeded Arkansas-Monticello, 7-6 in 10 innings on Thursday, run-rule No. 5-seed Southern Arkansas on Friday and then out-slug No. 5-seed Southeastern Oklahoma, 17-11 on Saturday.
The series is scheduled to start on Friday, May 8. Game two of the series will take place on Saturday, May 9 while the "If Necessary" game will be played on Sunday, May 10. All game times are to be determined.
In the game against Northwestern, the Wonder Boys scored first with a two-out single to right-centerfield by
Drew Vega that scored
Levi Martin from second base. Martin had led that inning off with a single to right.
The 1-0 score held until the top of the sixth when the Rangers finally broke through against Tech starter
Creighton Jacobitz. NWOSU would score the tying run that inning as they brought around a leadoff walk to score on a two-out double.
An inning later, Northwestern took the lead on a leadoff home run. Later in that inning and with one out, the Wonder Boys made the move to the bullpen for
Ashton Greenlee. After uncorking a wild pitch, Greenlee got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
Greenlee would face a major jam in the eighth as the Rangers loaded the bases with two outs, but a ground ball got him out of it, keeping the score 2-1.
There would be more traffic to deal with in the ninth, but Greenlee was more than up for the challenge as he stranded two more runners in scoring position while more importantly keeping the score the same, 2-1.
That allowed for the Wonder Boys to be in position for the theatrics in the bottom of ninth.
After the leadoff batter was retired, Vega, the No. 9 hitter in the order, reached base on a fielding error by the NWOSU shortstop. Vega then got to third as
Derek Rockett smashed a double that one-hopped the wall in right field.
With the tying run and winning run now in scoring position, the Rangers went to the bullpen for their closer. On his very first pitch, and with a drawn in infield,
Cole Dawson hit a grounder to short. The Rangers' shortstop fielded the ball cleanly and then gathered to throw home to try and get Vega, who was off with the contact.
The throw by the NWOSU shortstop was off target and up the third base line and got by the Rangers' catcher, allowing Vega to score the tying run. Not too far behind Vega was Rockett, who also slid in safely, scoring the game-winning run for the Wonder Boys.
