SEARCY, Ark. – SWOSU Baseball picked up a doubleheader split against Harding on Saturday to win their first Great American Conference series of the season 2-1 over the Bisons.
SWOSU (6-8, 2-4 GAC) returns home next weekend for a three-game set against East Central, to be played at the SWOSU Athletic Complex on March 3-4.
SWOSU 7, Harding 1
Box Score
Gunnar Cook (1-1) tossed a four-hit shutout in the nine-inning opener on Saturday, tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts to help the Bulldogs clinch the series win. Cook also walked four batters and allowed just one run on an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning.
SWOSU scored twice in the fifth but put the game away over the final three frames with four runs in the seventh and one in the ninth. The Bulldogs got a two-hit effort from
Ruben Rodriguez while
Jason Nichols had a two-run double in the seventh and
Daniel Richardson was 1-for-4 with an RBI single and he drew a bases-loaded walk for a second RBI.
Harding 3, SWOSU 0
Box Score
SWOSU's offense disappeared in the series finale as the Dawgs were held to two hits in the seven-inning contest. Both hits came in the fourth inning as
Joshua Santos led off the frame with a double and
Rogelio Sanchez came through with a two-out single.
Daniel Richardson was walked to load the bases, but
Danny-David Linahan grounded out to the pitcher to end the threat.
Harding got a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and added two more on three hits in the bottom of the sixth.
Devin Ring (1-2) was solid on the mount, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work before he was replaced by
Skyler Martin, who recorded the final two outs of the game for SWOSU.
