RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Three of the top four seeds won their best-of-three Great American Conference Baseball Championship series as No. 2 Ouachita Baptist and No. 4 Henderson State finished off two-game sweeps of Harding and Arkansas-Monticello, respectively. Oklahoma Baptist, the lone road team to advance, dropped Saturday's opening contest with Arkansas Tech but prevailed in the finale. Top-seed Southern Arkansas staved off elimination twice in knocking out Southeastern Oklahoma State.
G3 - No. 1 Southern Arkansas 12, No. 8 Southeastern Oklahoma State 2 (7)
G2 - No. 1 Southern Arkansas 14, No. 8 Southeastern Oklahoma State 7
G3 - No. 6 Oklahoma Baptist 13, No. 3 Arkansas Tech 5
G2 - No. 3 Arkansas Tech 13, No. 6 Oklahoma Baptist 6
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – A season ago, Arkansas Tech knocked out Oklahoma Baptist in the Great American Conference Tournament. This time around, it was the Bison that came out on top.
During Saturday's doubleheader at Baswell Field, the Wonder Boys claimed game two 13-6 before the Bison rolled ATU 13-5 in the series-deciding game.
GAME TWO
Ryan Turbeville was sensational in the finale which helped the Bison win in convincing fashion. He tied his season high with seven innings pitched and he fanned 10, a season-high.
With that, the Bison bats backed him up.
In the first, the Wonder Boys' defense was not up to par and it helped OBU attain a 4-0 lead. ATU had three errors and after a Schroeder single through the left side, a misplayed ball in left helped the Bison clear the bases. Furrey also provided a sac-fly lineout for the team's fourth run.
The Wonder Boys did apply some pressure after that. In the bottom of the fourth and trailing 7-1, ATU loaded the bases. While the hosts did score two, Turbeville struck out one before a 6-4-3 double play squashed the home team's chances of scoring more.
That momentum-shifting play went right into the hands of the Bison the rest of the way.
Fifth-inning action saw Brandon Brewer smash a double off the left-field wall which scored a run. And then two batters later, Lissade's fielder's choice to short, pushed Brewer across home.
The game was then sealed in the sixth. Furrey and Rafael Gutierrez delivered clutch, two-out, run-scoring hits and extended the lead to 12-3.
OBU's final run came off the bat of Pruitt who hit is 44th career homer in the ninth. He ended up going 3-for-5 with four runs scored while Furrey posted a 4-for-5 line and two RBI.
GAME ONE
Arkansas Tech had two frames, the third and eighth, in which it scored five runs each.
Before those innings, though, it was the Bison that got ahead, just like in Friday's game.
The game started with two walks and a hit-by-pitch by Tech pitcher Emiliano Mata. OBU followed with a pair of sacrifice flies from Kade Self and Alex Schroeder which scored Isiah Lissade and Jayden Shafer.
Two innings later, OBU doubled its run count and attained a 4-1 advantage. Dan Pruitt singled to left center and scored Lissade before Schroeder drove in Pruitt with another one-bagger.
ATU then seized command in the home half of the third and fourth frames. Nick Jones and Logan Schwanke each collected RBI doubles in the third to highlight Tech's efforts. There was also an RBI single from Sawyer Duddleston. After three, it was 6-4 Wonder Boys.
Then in the fourth, a fielder's choice followed by an infield throwing error allowed two to score.
Trailing by four, OBU did have opportunities to come back and tie. Austin Gonzales helped the cause with a two-out, two-run double in the sixth. Plus, the Bison had base runners in the seventh and eighth, three to be exact, but couldn't bring them in.
Arkansas Tech then sealed the deal with five more runs in the eighth which included a bases-clearing double by Jones.
G2 - No. 4 Henderson State 10, No. 5 Arkansas-Monticello 2
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Holding a slim 3-2 lead after six innings, Henderson State rattled off seven runs over the next two frames, including a five-run bottom of the eighth, to defeat Arkansas-Monticello 10-2 in game two of the first round, best-of-three series of the 2023 GAC Tournament. The pair of wins advances HSU to the semifinal round in Springdale, Arkansas.
Henderson's hot streak only heated up more as Saturday's win marked HSU's seventh series victory in a row. The Reddies have not dropped a best-of-three conference stand since March 18. Since then, head coach Cody Hooten's squad is 17-8 against conference opponents, including yesterday and today's wins.
For the second time in as many days, Reddie pitching delivered a masterful performance. Saturday's noteworthy players from the mound were Andrew Howard and Henry Coppens, who combined to allow just four hits and two runs while striking out eight batters.
Howard (7-3) recorded six strikeouts in six innings after allowing three hits and two runs. Coppens entered play in the seventh and earned his second three-inning save in back-to-back weekends and fifth of the season, striking out a pair while giving up just one hit.
Dillon Thomas saw his best two-game stretch of the season with his performance Saturday. After going for three RBI off two hits yesterday, the second-year Reddie from Cabot, Arkansas, led the team at the plate with a 3-for-5 day with two RBI and a double. Luke Rice added two hits while pacing the squad with four RBI and a double. As a team, HSU logged four extra-base hits while holding UAM to zero extra-base knocks.
The first inning came and went quickly behind a pair of three up, three downs from both sides before Henderson got the scoring started in the second. Thomas continued his strong play from game one with a lead-off single in his first at-bat of the contest before Louis Holt delivered a one-out double with two on to score Thomas. One batter later, Colton Patterson delivered an RBI-groundout for the 2-0 lead.
Arkansas-Monticello threatened to cut into the lead in the third, loading the bases with just one out before a fly-out followed by a line drive straight to shortstop Logan Cowart got HSU out of the inning unscathed. Thomas took advantage of the good defensive play in the third with his second hit of the day on a two-out double down the left-field line to score Greyson Stevens.
The Reddies held on to the three-run advantage before UAM came through with two runs in the fifth. That was all Monticello was able to muster as Howard struck out final Weevil batter for the last out with two runners on to keep the lead in hand. A scoreless sixth that saw HSU strand two base runners of its own kept it a one-run game with three innings remaining.
A change at pitcher for Henderson in the seventh yielded another scoreless at-bat for the visitors before the Reddies really opened up the scoring. A pair of hits plus a walk and a wild pitch plated two runs before the red-and-gray added five hits in the eighth to add five more to bring the lead to 10-2. Henderson scored its final three runs on two outs as Arkansas-Monticello was unable to cut into the lead in the final half-inning.
G2 - No. 2 Ouachita Baptist 6, No. 7 Harding 1
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Ouachita Baptist punched its ticket to the Great American Conference Championship Tournament Final Four with a 6-1 victory at home on Saturday over Harding University.
Ouachita came into this weekend's series against Harding (33-19) ranked fourth in the central region, and is seeking its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and fourth overall.
In Saturday's win over the Bisons, neither team had any luck reaching the scoreboard in the first four innings. The Bisons struck first with a run in the top of the fifth inning for their only run of the weekend. Ouachita immediately answered in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run homerun by G. Allen, his 12th of the season.
Ouachita went to the long ball once again in the sixth inning on a two-run homerun by Dustin Bermudez to take a 4-1 lead. It was Bermudez's 12th homerun of the year.
Michael Quinones finalized the scoring with a two-run double in the eighth inning.
Tiger starting pitcher Teddy Webb (8-2) allowed just one Harding run on six hits with six strikeouts in the first eight innings. Dustin Bermudez held the Tiger lead in the ninth inning, retiring three straight Bison batters to close the game.
Ouachita racked up 15 hits in the win, marking the 26th game of the season to have at least 10. Isaac Nowell and Wyatt Core each had three hits, while Bermudez, Allen, and Quinones all had two.