Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU Baseball was in great position with a 6-2 through five innings, but Arkansas Tech scored 11 unanswered runs in the final four frames to shock the Great American Conference Champions for the second straight day, eliminating SWOSU from the GAC Tournament in the process.
Thanks to the new format of the GAC Tournament, best-of-three series were played at the top four teams home sites this weekend and now Arkansas Tech will advance to Arkadelphia, Arkansas as the No. 8 seed for next weekend's double elimination tournament hosted by Henderson State.
SWOSU, meanwhile, will sit on their 33-15 overall record for the next eight days while awaiting their NCAA postseason fate. The Bulldogs were ranked fourth in the last NCAA Central Region rankings, released on Wednesday, but several teams will remain in contention for the five at-large bids to the regional. The NCAA Division II Baseball Selection Show will be held next Sunday (May 15) at 9:00 pm on NCAA.com.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs scored four runs in the bottom of the third, led off by a solo home run from
Tanner Dearman, and they added solo home runs by
Korbin Polston and
Jacob Spring back-to-back to leadoff the fifth inning. Those dingers put SWOSU on top 6-2 with starter
Gunnar Cook working around a bases-loaded jam in both the fourth and fifth innings.
SWOSU would not be as lucky in the sixth inning as the Wonder Boys took advantage of two SWOSU errors and plated three runs in the inning to get within one run. Things got worse for SWOSU in the seventh, when Arkansas Tech got a two-run single to take the lead and followed it up with a three-run home run that pushed their lead to 10-6. ATU tacked on one run in the eighth and two in the ninth, all while making multiple dazzling plays in the field and riding their new found momentum to a series-clinching 13-6 victory.
Gunnar Cook worked himself out of a few difficult positions but still put together a quality start with three runs allowed on five hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in 5.0 innings.
Jeremy Smith (2-2) suffered the defeat after allowing three hits and three earned runs in 1.1 innings of action. In total, SWOSU's five pitchers combined to strike out 15 batters on the day.
Joel Baxley led SWOSU at the dish with a 3-for-4 performance at the dish and one run scored. Dearman and Spring each had two hits and one RBI in the game, while Spring was the lone Bulldog to score twice. SWOSU had chances offensively, but for the second straight day they left 10 runners stranded on base.
