ENID, Oklahoma - On day two the Great American Conference Baseball Championships, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Arkansas-Monticello staved off elimination with victories. Harding and Henderson State reached the finals of their respective brackets as the Bisons defeated top-seeded Arkansas Tech and the Reddies defeated Southern Arkansas in extra innings.
BRACKET #2, GAME 4 - No. 6 Henderson State 13, No. 2 Southern Arkansas 10 (11)
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Courtesy HSUSports.com - Henderson State won their second game of the GAC Tournament 13-10 against Southern Arkansas in 11 innings.
In a game that started on Friday and ended on Saturday, 11 innings later, we finally had a winner. It was an offensive explosion in Enid, as the two teams combined for 23 runs and 32 hits.
The Reddies got off to a quick start after a Julio Vasquez walk scored Luke Rice in the first inning. SAU would go on to tact on six runs and take a 6-1 lead heading into the top of the fifth.
In the top half of the fifth the Reddies came alive, scoring seven runs including a two RBI single from Luke Rice to take an 8-6 lead.
Both teams would add two more runs making it a 10-8 game heading into the eighth. After a run in the bottom of the eighth and ninth, we would head to extra innings tied at 10.
Both teams would fail to do anything in the 10th, but in the 11th Luke Rice would double down the left field line. Setting the table for Dylan Block to take us home, and he would do just that with his RBI double down the right field line, scoring pinch runner Caleb Bryant.
The runs kept coming in the 11th as Julio Vasquez would double and Cal Jones would add on a triple to give Henderson a 13-10 lead.
Mitchell Szczygiel was ice cold in the bottom of the 11th and with the help of a double play by Tripp Cambell and Jones the Reddies earned their second win of the weekend.
With this win, the Reddies are one win away from clinching a spot in the GAC Baseball Conference Championship next weekend. HSU will await the winner of SAU vs UAM tomorrow at 1 p.m..
First pitch is scheduled for 8pm at David Allen Ballpark.
BRACKET #1, GAME 4 - No. 4 Harding 8, No. 1 Arkanas Tech 6
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Courtesy HardinigSports.com - Harding defeated Arkansas Tech 8-6 in a Great American Conference Tournament winner's bracket game Friday at David Allen Ballpark. The Bisons will play the winner of the Arkansas Tech-Southeastern Oklahoma game Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the Bracket 1 championship game.
Harding (36-16) jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, scoring on Kade Smith's RBI single after Logan Lacey was hit by a pitch and Collin Helms singled. The Bisons improved to 22-5 this season when scoring first.
Javier Lobo (2-0) made his second start of the season and sixth of his career, earning the win after pitching five innings. Lobo had previously pitched eight scoreless innings against Arkansas Tech in the regular season.
Coulton Doyle's home run in the second inning gave Harding a 2-0 lead. Arkansas Tech responded with a sacrifice fly by Kirby Jenkins in the bottom of the second. Harding exploded for six runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by Harrison Griffith's two-run single and Chance Resetich's three-run home run, which extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Arkansas Tech's Tyler Sardelli hit a solo home run in the fifth, and the Wonder Boys scored three runs in the sixth to cut Harding's lead to 8-5. Kyle Lane relieved Lobo and pitched the final four innings, earning the save.
Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a double for Harding, while Resetich went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a home run.
BRACKET #2, GAME 3 - No. 3 Arkansas-Monticello 13, No. 7 Northwestern Oklahoma State 5
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Courtesy UAMSports.com - Enid, Okla. – The Arkansas-Monticello baseball team kept its postseason hopes alive on Friday afternoon, defeating Northwestern Oklahoma State 13-5 in an elimination game at the 2025 Great American Conference Tournament.
The Weevils opened the scoring in the first inning when Roc Hawthorne crossed the plate on a double play ball. The Rangers tied it in the second, capitalizing on a throwing error. NWOSU took a 2-1 lead in the fourth with an RBI double by Trevor Saire.
UAM responded in the fifth as Kirk Woolf launched a three-run homer to right, putting the Weevils ahead 4-2. The offense surged again in the sixth with an RBI single from Cade Cancilla, followed by a three-run blast from Hawthorne, extending the lead to 8-2.
The Rangers trimmed the deficit to 8-4 in the seventh, but UAM answered in the bottom half with a two-run homer by Justin Santoyo. After NWOSU added an unearned run in the eighth, the Weevils capped their scoring with a three-run eighth inning, highlighted by a two-run double from Logan Jones.
Connor Irvine earned the win, tossing 6.1 innings while allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits. He struck out six, walked three, and threw 102 pitches. Bryce Louis followed with 1.2 innings of relief, giving up one unearned run on one hit with no walks or strikeouts. Dylan Vail closed out the game with a scoreless ninth, striking out one and allowing no hits over 1.0 inning.
Offensive Showcase
- Roc Hawthorne – 3-for-4 with a home run, 4 runs scored, 3 RBI, and 1 walk
- Chaz Poppy – 3-for-4 with a home run, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored, and 1 HBP
- Kirk Woolf – 2-for-4 with a home run, 3 RBI, 1 run scored, and 1 walk
- Justin Santoyo – 2-for-5 with a home run, 2 RBI, 1 run scored
- Cade Cancilla – 2-for-3 with 3 runs scored, 1 RBI, and 1 walk
BRACKET #1, GAME 3 - No. 8 Ouachita Baptist 8, No. 5 Ouachita Baptist 6
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Courtesy GoSoutheastern.com - Southeastern piled up 15 hits and lived to play another day as it picked up an 8-6 win over Ouachita Baptist in a win-or-go-home game on Friday morning in the Great American Conference Tournament in Enid, Okla.
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 22-29 overall on the season and will now square off with Arkansas Tech at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Chase Keeton finished the contest with a trio of hits, while Wesley Mitchell, Carter Olson, Gage Dollins, and Ryan Kirk each logged two.
Brady Evans, Nick Mueller, Peyton Poole, and Austin Thorp each added one hit as every player in the Storm lineup had at least one hit.
Evans, Olson, and Mueller each had home runs, while Kirk doubled twice with Keeton and Thorp adding a double each.
Olson and Kirk finished with two RBI each, while Evans, Mitchell, Keeton, and Mueller drove in one apiece.
Colton Clawson got the start and tossed 3.2 innings in a no decision, allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts.
Cody Pfeffer followed in relief and logged his fourth win of the year as he allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits with four K's across 2.2 innings.
Carson Abbott closed out the contest for his third save of the season without allowing a run or a hit while striking out four.
Evans homered to lead off the contest and stake the Storm to a 1-0 lead out of the gate.
SE added on in the third, first bringing home a run on a Mitchell RBI groundout before Olson connected on a two-run shot to push the lead to 4-0 midway through the third inning.
The Tigers answered with a solo homer to leadoff the bottom of the third before bringing in two more runs and closing the Southeastern advantage to 4-3 through three innings.
OBU knotted the game at 4-4 an inning later with an RBI single.
The Storm broke the tie in the top of the sixth on a two-run double by Kirk that plated Dollins and Thorp, and Keeton pushed the lead to 7-4 later in the inning on an RBI single to score Kirk.
A Mueller homer led off the top of the seventh and extended the SE lead to 8-4 midway through seven innings.
The Tigers took advantage of an SE error and an RBI single in the bottom half of the seventh inning cutting the SE advantage to 8-6 which would hold up as the final score.