WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU scored seven first-inning runs in two games on Saturday as they swept Harding to win the three-game Great American Conference series 2-1. The wins improve SWOSU to 29-13 on the year and they will enter the final weekend of league play one game behind Arkansas-Monticello in the race for a conference championship.
"This group has had resolve all year," SWOSU Head Coach
Zack Saunders said. "They've been able to rebound and respond and they showed up this morning like yesterday never happened. We were finally the aggressor and our offense just kept coming in waves today and our guys never let up. It's exciting to head into the final weekend with big things to play for, but we have to try and be the same group we've been all year and play in the moment."
SWOSU 10, Harding 3
Box Score
SWOSU sent three home runs over the left field fence in the first inning, building a 5-0 lead and controlling the first game from start to finish.
Tanner Dearman led the game off with a single and waiting just two batters to score on a two-run home run from
Korbin Polston, his first of the game.
Jacob Spring made it back-to-back home runs with his 12th round tripper of the season and
Greg Bruno finished off the inning with a two-run shot that made it 5-0.
The Bulldogs would score twice in the fourth inning with Dearman getting an RBI single to score
CJ Faddis before coming around to score on an error by Harding. The Bisons scored once in the sixth and twice in the eighth, but a three-run sixth by SWOSU that included Polston's second two-run shot of the game provided plenty of distance for the Dawgs.
Gunnar Cook (8-3) earned the victory after allowing one run on seven hits while striking out 11 batters in 6.0 innings.
Blake Gooden had four strikeouts as he closed out the game, allowing two hits in the final 3.0 innings.
SWOSU 9, Harding 3
Box Score
The Bulldogs continued to be the aggressor in the second game, scoring in each of the first four frames and five of six overall to win the seven-inning series finale. Dearman got things going with a leadoff triple and he score on an infield single from
Cole Wagner. Wagner then stole second and scored on an RBI single from Spring that made it 2-0 after the first.
In the second inning,
Haden Houska singled and scored on an RBI double from Wagner and in the third
CJ Faddis came through with a bases-clearing three-run double that ran the lead out to 6-2. Polston would take it from there, hitting an RBI-double in the fourth and a two-run homer in the sixth for SWOSU's final three runs.
Devin Ring (5-3) got the win after lasting 5.2 innings while allowing three runs on six hits. He also struck out six batter with just one walk.
Quinton Dougherty recorded the final four outs, striking out three of the five batters he faced.
