WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Behind three home runs and six extra-base hits, the SWOSU Baseball team returned to Great American Conference action with a 12-6 victory over East Central on Friday afternoon at the Athletic Complex in Weatherford.
The win snaps a four-game slide for the Dawgs, who improve to 10-8 (9-7 GAC) on the year, and they'll be back in action on Saturday to close out the series with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
While the final score might indicate the Bulldogs were in control throughout, that was not the case as ECU struck first with two runs in the top of the first inning. SWOSU was kept off the board until the third inning and the bats really got going the third time through the lineup.
In the fifth inning, SWOSU got RBI hits from
Miguel Soto,
Zach Baxley and
Brooks Red, which set the stage for
Keyshaun Smith to connect on one of the most impressive home runs you will ever see as he cleared the bases – and the scoreboard in left field – with a massive shot. At the end of the fifth, SWOSU led 7-2, but East Central wouldn't go away and they put up four runs in the top of the sixth to make it a one-run game, 7-6.
SWOSU's final five runs would come courtesy of two big swings, one in the sixth and the other in the seventh inning. With
Alex Bedard and Soto on in the bottom of the sixth, Baxley connected on a homer to left, pushing the lead to 10-6 before Soto got in on the home run action in the seventh with a two-run bomb that scored
Marc Gonzales and gave SWOSU the final margin of 12-6.
Each of SWOSU's nine players in the lineup had a hit in the game as the Bulldogs totaled a season-high 17 hits on the day. Soto, Baxley and Red had three hits apiece while
Taylan Mullins-Ohm and Gonzales each had two hits. Baxley was 3-for-4 with four RBI and two hits and Smith and Soto each had three RBI and scored a combined four runs in the game.
While the offense draws the headline, SWOSU's pitching on Friday was more than adequate as
Nate Postlethwait and
Haden Branch combined for 16 strikeouts. Postlethwait (5-1) got the victory after working around six hits and four walks with nine strikeouts in 5.1 innings of action. Branch picked up his first save of the season with 3.2 quality innings of relief, in which he struck out seven Tiger batters while allowing just two hits.
