NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Great American Conference Pitcher of the Year Maddox Long pitched into the eighth inning as Harding defeated rival Arkansas Tech, 5-1, in Thursday’s second GAC Baseball Championship contest from Dickey-Stephens Park.
Less than two weeks removed from a start against the Wonder Boys (35-17) in which he gave up 11 hits and six earned runs over just 4.1 innings of work, Long surrendered just an unearned run across 7.1 innings on the mound. He gave up eight hits, all singles, and struck out three. He broke the Harding (36-15) career record for strikeouts with his first of the game. His 260 strikeouts surpassed the total established by Phill Gisel from 1998 to 2001.
The Bisons scored first when catcher Sebastian Martinez lifted a solo home run to right field. They maintained the 1-0 advantage until the bottom of the fourth inning when Wonder Boys took advantage of a Harding error to tie the game.
In the top of the fifth, the Bisons regained the lead when Nathan Bowie singled home Ty Kirkbride. They added three insurance runs by virtue of sacrifice flies in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Bowie finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.
The Bisons face top-seeded Arkansas-Monticello at 11 a.m. on Friday. The Wonder Boys face Southern Arkansas at 3 p.m. in an elimination game.