ENID, Oklahoma - One the opening day of the Great American Conference Baseball Championships, dominant pitching from GAC Pitcher of the Year Maddox Long and unanimous First-Team selection Jeremy Adorno helped Harding and Southern Arkansas, respectively, score victories. Top-seeded Arkansas Tech matched the tournament single-game record for runs, 19, in defeating Southeastern Oklahoma State and Henderson Statee won see-saw affair with Arkansas-Monticello to score the lone win for the lower-seeded teams.
BRACKET #2, GAME 2 - No. 6 Henderson State 8, No. 3 Arkansas-Monticello 7
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Courtesy HSUSports.com - Henderson State took advantage of hits up and down the lineup and survived multiple early inning jams to defeat Arkansas-Monticello in a back and forth, high scoring affair in the opening round of the GAC Tournament 8-7. The Reddies (29-20) scored two runs in both the second and third innings to open up the lead and survived multiple comebacks by the power hitting Weevils.
Louis Holt got the offense started in the top of the second inning with a two RBI triple to open up the scoring. Nate Moore and Cal Jones answered in the third inning with back-to-back run scoring singles.
UAM hit themselves back into the game in the fourth on a two-run home run by Camden Tanner, but both teams went the entirety of innings five and six putting zeros on the scoreboard. Neither team could muster any offense, thanks in part to an excellent two innings from Tyler Bates, which included four strikeouts.
In the seventh, after chasing UAM's starter, the Reddies worked two walks before Cal Jones drove an 0-2 fastball into the right-centerfield bleachers for just his third home run of the season, but the three run blast opened the Reddie lead to four runs. However, the Weevils answered with four runs of their own with a grand slam by Justin Santoyo.
The eighth inning was another quiet inning before the Reddies regained the lead in the top of the ninth after a sacrifice fly by Luke Farrar scored Dylan Moore, but HSU stranded two men in scoring position, two of the twelve men left on base by the Reddies. After giving up the game tying grand slam, Peyton Byrd retired the next eight batters he faced, working a perfect eighth and ninth inning to earn the win.
Tonight's win marked career victory number 400 for Reddie manager Cody Hooten in his 15th season. Hooten is already the leader in victories among all Reddie baseball coaches.
BRACKET #2, GAME 1 - No. 2 Southern Arkansas 3, No. 7 Northwestern Oklahoma State 1
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Courtesy MuleriderAthletics.com - The Southern Arkansas University Muleriders (31-19, 22-11) defeated the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers (30-21, 17-16) by a final score of 3-1 in their first game of the Great American Conference Tournament behind a nine-inning complete game performance from Jeremy Adorno.
After a scoreless first inning for both teams, the Muleriders broke through in the bottom of the second inning as Trace Shoup scored from third on a one out single to right field from Grant Roosma to plate the first run of the game and give SAU a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers then plated a run in the top of the third inning to knot the game at 1-1. Both pitchers then settled in nicely as the next runs of the game came in the bottom of the eighth inning. Two quick outs for the Muleriders to begin the bottom of the eighth made it appear to be another quick inning for the Rangers until Trace Shoup singled up the middle and Carter Claerhout was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with two outs. Grant Roosma then stepped to the plate and doubled into right field to score Shoup and Claerhout as the Muleriders retook the lead, 2-1.
Jeremy Adorno trotted out to the mound for his ninth inning of work and made quick work of the Rangers collecting a first pitch fly ball to right field, then proceeding to strikeout the final two hitters of the game securing the win for the Muleriders.
Jeremy's complete game effort marked his fourth complete game of the season and the 16th of his career which now ties him for 3rd all-time in Mulerider Baseball History.
BRACKET #1, GAME 2 - No. 1 Arkansas Tech 19, No. 8 Southeastern Oklahoma State 5 (7)
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Courtesy ArkansasTechSports.com - The Arkansas Tech baseball team opened up their 2025 Great American Conference Tournament with an emphatic 19-5 run-rule win in seven innings against No. 8-seed Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon.
The top-seeded Wonder Boys fell behind early to Southeastern as the Savage Storm scored twice in the top of the first on a two-run home run from recently-named GAC Player of the Year, Wesley Mitchell.
Tech was able to get a run back in their half of the first on a RBI single to shortstop by Christian Olea. Southeastern would push their lead back out to a pair of runs in the top of the third as Mitchell hit a solo home run. Once more, however, the Wonder Boys had an answer in their half and scored a run on a RBI double to right-centerfield by Sawyer Duddleston.
After the Savage Storm went 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth, the Wonder Boys took complete control of the game in the bottom half and created all sorts of chaos using small ball and sacrifice bunts.
In the fourth, Tech scored five runs on four hits and forced Southeastern to commit three errors. The first two of those errors came on sacrifice bunt attempts by Tech while the third was on a steal attempt of second base.
An inning later, the Wonder Boys added eight more runs on five hits and in the sixth tacked on four more for good measure to bring their run total to 19 and their hit total to 16. The 19 runs scored by Tech tied a GAC Baseball Tournament record.
BRACKET #1, GAME 1 - No. 4 Harding 11, No. 5 Ouachita Baptist 1 (7)
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Courtesy HardingSports.com - No. 4 seed Harding defeated No. 5 seed Ouachita Baptist 11-1 on Thursday morning in the Great American Conference Tournament at David Allen Ballpark.
Harding (35-16) scored in four of the six innings they came to bat. After Nathan Bowie tripled to lead off the bottom of the first, Collin Helms doubled him home to give Harding an early 1-0 lead. Harding improved to 22-5 this season when scoring first. It was just the beginning of a banner day for Bowie.
In the second, Harrison Griffith hit a solo home run that cleared the batter's eye in straight-away center field. It was his fourth home run of the season. Chance Resetich followed with another home run, his fourth of the year, that smashed off the windows of an old school bus sitting just beyond the left field wall. It was the third time this season Harding has hit back-to-back home runs. The three home runs by Harding in the game gave them 56 for the season, breaking the previous record of 54 by the 2005 team.
The Bisons broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring six runs. With one out, Cooper Newsom singled, Griffith singled, and Resetich hit a sacrifice fly to score Newsom. Ty Kirkbride singled, and then Coulton Doyle reached on a wild pitch that scored Kirkbride. Bowie then doubled to right-center, driving in both runners. Logan Lacey capped the inning with a two-run home run to left field. It was his 13th home run of the season, tying for third-most in a Harding single season. The score was 9-0 after five innings.
Harding added two more unearned runs in the sixth on RBI hits from Doyle and Bowie. Earlier in the game, Doyle walked for the 128th time in his career, setting a new school record.
Ouachita Baptist (24-24) scored its only run in the top of the seventh. Reece McWilliams was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a single by Austin Gathright, and scored on a fielder's choice RBI by Connor Hill. Harding pitcher Maddox Long had pitched 14 scoreless innings against Ouachita, including the regular season, before the Tigers scored in the top of the seventh.
Long (11-3) earned the win for Harding, becoming the first Harding pitcher ever with 11 wins in a season. It was the 29th win of his career. Chase Oberle (5-5) took the loss for Ouachita Baptist.
Bowie led Harding's offense, going 5-for-5 with three doubles, a triple, and three RBIs. It was his first career five-hit game and the first five-hit game ever by a Harding player at the GAC Tournament. His second career three-double game, Bowie's 10 total bases were the most ever by a Harding player at the GAC Tournament.