SEARCY, Ark. – After dropping both ends of a doubleheader on Sunday at Harding, the SWOSU Baseball team responded with a 7-5 victory over the Bisons in the series finale on Monday at Jerry Moore Field in Searcy.
SWOSU fell behind 5-0 early in both games on Sunday, but would attempt to come from behind before falling by scores of 9-5 and 7-4. They would flip the script on Monday as they never trailed in a game that featured three ties, but no lead changes as SWOSU would not trail in the game.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the top of the first as
Drew White took home on a wild pitch by the Bisons starting pitcher, but the Bisons answered with a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the frame. Harding would hit a solo shot in each of the first three innings, but SWOSU maintained the lead on the strength of a two-run RBI single from White in the second, part of a three-run inning that had the Dawgs on top 4-1 at the time.
Harding would tie the score at 4-4 with a sac fly in the fourth, but
Ryan Dos Santos broke that tie with an RBI double in the fifth that brought
Zach Baxley home to make it 5-4. Harding again responded and evened the score at 5-5 with an RBI groundout in the bottom half of the frame.
Alex Bedard jumpstarted a two-out rally in the sixth with a single before moving into scoring position on a wild pitch, which allowed him to score on a double by
Miguel Soto that put SWOSU back on top 6-5. That's where the score would remain into the seventh inning, when Harding got a single and a walk to have two base runners with no outs.
Haden Branch was brought on in relief and promptly picked off the runner at first before allowing a single that gave HU runners at the corners with one out. Branch then made a great defensive play, coming off the mound and catching the runner in between third and home for the second out of the inning while the other runners moved into scoring position. With runners at second and third, Branch recorded his first strikeout of the day to end the threat and maintain the one-run lead.
SWOSU would get an insurance run in the eighth as
Griffin Larsen scored on a wild pitch, making it 7-5, which was more than enough of a cushion for Branch, who worked around one hit and a walk in the final two innings but never allowed a baserunner past first.
Branch (1-1) earned the decision with three innings of action, holding Harding to two hits while striking out two and retiring nine of the 11 batters he faced.
The win is the 20th of the season for the Bulldogs, who improve to 20-12 on the year and 16-11 in conference play despite dropping two-of-three for the weekend. With two weekends remaining in the regular season, SWOSU is in fifth place in the league standings, one game behind Northwestern in fourth and one game ahead of Henderson State and Arkansas-Monticello in sixth. The Bulldogs will head to Chickasha on Tuesday to face USAO before hitting the road to Alva this weekend for a three-game set at Northwestern.
